After my book club on Sunday, I decided to walk around the area a little and found a tree that looked like it'd be easy to climb. Gave it a shot and climbed up a bit, although I didn't go very high because I have no experience climbing trees and was afraid to fall. Also my phone fell out of my pocket and onto the ground, so I had to go down and get it.

When I was walking back towards my car, this new guy who had attended the book club saw me and started talking to me. He was extremely annoying and kept talking excitedly about things that were obvious to me. It was clear that he thought what he was saying was very insightful and deep. I don't know if he thought I would benefit from what he was saying or if he just wanted to talk about it because he thought it was fascinating and wonderful.

I really just wanted to leave, but I did my best to hear him out for a few minutes and not get visibly irritated with him.

In reflecting on this afterwards, I decided that it was a good situation to practice patience in. People have told me on multiple occasions that I'm very patient, but that doesn't resonate with me, because in most cases I'm just not bothered by things to begin with. I feel like it would count more if I were actually in situations with things that had the potential to anger or upset me. This was one of those situations!

Lately I've been feeling kind of uncharitable and... I dunno... mean? Like I'm not trying very hard to see things from other people's perspective. It's somewhat troubling. Need to work on getting back to a place of empathy instead of being closed off and pursuing my own perspective without pause.

I guess it's kind of good that it's hard, though. It feels like a challenge. Personal growth feels more meaningful when it's a struggle. I have done a lot of things that felt relatively easy, especially in the beginning. It's like leveling up in a video game... the levels come quick and easy at first. Kill a few monsters and you're already level 2, then 3, 4, 5, 10, 20. But get to the higher levels and you're just grinding. The time and effort it takes to get from level 80 to 81 is considerable. Thinking about things in those terms helps me feel less frustrated with what feels like a slowdown in my progress.

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