The key to everything is patience.
You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.
Arnold H. Glasow, business man and humorist
I have a new respect for caregivers, 
professional and otherwise, after spending a week providing care and support to my 85-year-old maternal aunt who recently returned home, after surgery and health challenges sent her to the hospital and then into a nursing home for a week.
If you’ve cared for anyone during any kind of crisis, physical or otherwise, you know that one of the important qualities needed by both the person in crisis and by you is patience.
Because we all want things to get back to normal—or the new normal—as quickly as possible.
When I broke my leg years ago, I just wanted the weeks to pass quickly so I could walk without crutches again. And yet that experience gave me such a deep compassion and understanding for people with ongoing limitations.
It is human nature to want to speed any process along, especially into today’s technological environment where everything moves faster than the speed of light—or seems to.
But some things can’t be hurried. Pregnancy, grieving, falling in love, recovering from illness, and the creative process.
Creativity and writing take time. While there are those rare occasions when the Muse inspires or talks so fast you can hardly keep up, much of the time, you sit and wait.
If you try to hurry the process, smash the creative egg, well, you might have something in your hand but it probably won’t be what you wanted or were looking for. You might lose something precious and vital.
You have to let the project, the book, grow. You have to handle it gently, protect it, keep it warm, and even cuddle with it.
You have to wait patiently until you hear pecking from within the egg and witness that first crack.
Some things in this life can be hurried along.
But the important things, the things that have meaning, significance and value–like your creative work–can’t.
Patience is necessary.
So, are you smashing or hatching?