Waiting Is the Hardest Part
A neuroscience lesson in patience
This is a modified excerpt from Inside Your Head 🧠, a weekly newsletter exploring why your brain makes you think, feel, and act the way you do, written by me, Elemental’s senior writer and a former brain scientist. Subscribe here so you won’t miss the next one.
I feel like we’ve all been doing a lot of… waiting recently. First, we were waiting for a vaccine to be approved; now we’re waiting for our place in line. We’re waiting for the pandemic to finally end (please God let it end). And we’re waiting, apprehensively, to see what unfolds at the presidential inauguration tomorrow. A lot of big things are happening in the world right now, but for many of us the only thing we can do is be patient and see how they turn out.
Your brain, waiting (im)patiently
According to psychologist Sarah Schnitker, there are three kinds of patience: interpersonal patience (having patience with other people), daily hassle patience (suffering through slow internet), and life hardship patience (being able to wait out tough times — like right now).
In her research, Schnitker has found that having more patience is linked to greater feelings of well-being, better coping skills, lower levels of depression, and fewer health problems. “Patience…
