WHEN PATIENCE BECOMES STRATEGY
Learning to trust what’s still taking shape.
Welcome to Issue #033 of Sojourn. Each week, I share two original essays to help you slow down, reconnect, and rebuild with intention — in a private community that uses travel as a path to reinvention.
It’s funny how uncomfortable waiting can be.
We say we want things to unfold naturally — but then rush to check if they’re unfolding fast enough.
I’ve done that more times than I can count.
With work, with writing, with life.
The moment something starts to grow, I want to know where it’s going.
And when I can’t see the proof, I start to doubt the process.
But lately, I’ve been thinking… maybe patience isn’t passive at all.
Maybe it’s one of the most strategic things we can practice.
Because while you’re waiting, things are still moving — just not always where you can see them.
The conversations you had months ago are connecting threads behind the scenes.
The ideas you planted in quiet moments are still rooting, even if they haven’t bloomed.
It’s like traveling through fog: you don’t stop driving because you can’t see the road ahead.
You just learn to move differently — slower, steadier, more aware.
That’s what patience really is.
A form of grounded trust.
A decision to keep showing up, even when visibility is low.
So if you’re in a season where progress feels invisible, try not to mistake it for stillness.
Momentum has many forms — not all of them loud.
Sometimes the waiting is the work.
Sometimes the pause is the plan.
And when you look back, you realize it wasn’t wasted time.
It was everything taking shape in ways you couldn’t yet see.
~Ana