Rev21 Media

Patience:  The ability to remain calm when dealing with a difficult or annoying situation, task, or person.

Notice how amazingly concise that scholarly definition sums up the 3 categories that apply to the application of patience in our profession and our personal lives….situations, tasks, and people….

How can we do that….how can we make sure we have enough patience in the bank to power us in our profession and personal life….?

Here are some suggestions on how to practice/develop patience........

We talk about how faith can strengthen a law enforcement career by building discipline, humility, and positivity that hold up under stress. We share practical ways to carry a spiritual center into the job, reset after shift, and protect your identity so policing doesn’t swallow your personal life. 
• defining faith as trust and a guiding moral compass 
• naming the daily stressors that stack up in law enforcement 
• spotting coping traps that look like relief but create more damage 
• using faith to clarify purpose and restore balance at home 
• treating faith like indispensable survival gear 
• choosing a personal motivator without letting others bully your beliefs 
• building a pre-shift and post-shift transition ritual to reset the mind 
• remembering most people are decent while staying realistic about danger 
Try it. Take it out for a walk, jog with it for a while. See for yourself if I am right or wrong. 

Take what we go through in our professional lives, add what we go through in our personal lives, then top off that sundae with the cherry of local and world events that keep popping up, and you have an environment of chaos that seems impossible to get away from.  

I say seems because we are not taught how to find peace in the chaos that can surround our everyday professional and personal lives.

Now I know this seems contradictory—that there can be peace in chaos—for the very meaning of peace is the absence of chaos.  But there are some simple things we can do to find some peace….and as with everything else it will require you to take an honest introspective look at yourself.  Today we will look at a few of those ways......

"Playing the Long Game"

In everything we do as LEO’s there is a long and short game involved…..whether it's a traffic stop, hostage situation, family violence call, meeting with Admin to set up our career path, etc.  

Much of this is nothing new to some….it is what we do instinctively and can be partially covered by being situationally and tactically aware of the surrounding environment, having some solid “what if” plans (OODA) in your toolbox, a “go with the flow” (OODA) skill set, and warrior’s heart….so let’s talk about Playing the Long Game as a LEO.

To begin with, Playing the Long Game requires the ability to examine yourself and be completely honest with what you see.  Here's a takeaway:

Sometimes the reward is not the destination, but in the journey itself....

Something can die in you without a single dramatic moment....

 It just fades after enough calls, enough conflict, and enough nights where you have to stay switched on. We’re naming that loss out loud and using one word to frame the way back: resurrection, the move from ruin or disuse back into life because you take direct action.

We start with a blunt self-check: what in your life needs to be resurrected? From there we get practical about the traits law enforcement officers often lose first. Patience takes hits on the street and then shows up missing at home, with spouses, partners, kids, and even longtime friends. We challenge the lie that this is simply the price of the job and talk about how boundaries, honest reflection, and intentional effort can restore what the work has worn down.

Then we dig into compassion and trust, two pressure points tied to officer safety and officer mental health. Compassion fatigue is understandable when you’ve seen too much, but “understandable” doesn’t have to mean “permanent.” We talk about rebuilding compassion in a way that stays wise, grounded, and street-smart, including leaning on a belief system, learning from peers who still carry empathy, and practicing transparency at home.

We close with humility, the trait that can feel like it conflicts with a strong police presence, yet often proves to be the real foundation of strength. If you’re ready to rebuild the better parts of yourself, subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the trait you’re working to resurrect.