"I want what I want and I want it now!" That was the limit of our patience when we used it. The obsession and compulsion of the disease made us think in only one way; when we wanted something, our minds stuck to it. And with the drugs we were taking we learned that instant gratification comes with the next hit. It's no coincidence that most of us came to Narcotics Anonymous with almost no patience.
The thing is, we can't always have what we want when we want it. Some of our "wants" are completely utopian; if we think about it a little, we will realize that it is not worth believing that these "wants" will be fulfilled in our lifetime. In all probability we cannot realize even all of our realistic desires; what is certain is that we cannot realize them all at once. In order to obtain or achieve some things, we will need to sacrifice others.
In use we sought immediate gratification, exhausting everything and everyone. In recovery we need to learn to set priorities, sometimes denying the satisfaction of some of our desires in order to achieve long-term goals that are more important. To do this, patience is needed. To gain this patience we work the program of recovery seeking to awaken spiritually, so that we can live and enjoy life on its own terms.
