Sometimes when you hear or read a quote by someone, it kinda hits you. You start thinking about how true it is and start resonating it with your life.

Well, it happened to me today.

I heard this quote by Anne Frank and realized how true it was. I thought to myself, “that is exactly how I feel too.”

For those of you who do not know who Anne Frank was, she was one of the youngest influencers of the 20th century. She became popular for her diary where she had written all her experiences during the war – how she and her family lived in fear. Her diary was later transformed into a book called Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Her book has been translated into over 60 different languages. The surprising fact is that Anne was in her early teenage years when she wrote her diary. Yet, it was able to inspire thousands of people around the world. Anne was only 15 years old when she died.

The Quote by Anne Frank

Here’s the quote:

“Paper has more patience than people.”

I heard this quote in a YouTube video by Daily Stoic. I had to pause the video and reflect on the quote for a moment.

This quote has an obvious meaning in Anne’s life. She had nowhere to go and nothing to do except to stay in her hiding place and write about her feelings and experiences. She didn’t feel like speaking to anyone about her thoughts and feelings because she believed that no-one really cared. So she would rather write them in her diary than speak to people.

Most people are interested in their own lives. They care about themselves more than they do about others. It is our natural behavior to think about ourselves first. We are far too busy with our own lives and dealing with our own problems. Who has the time to care about others’ lives and their problems?

Think about the people who constantly talk about themselves. These are the people who are liked by only a few. Why? Because nobody has the patience to listen to others speak about themselves.

So instead, if we write about ourselves on a piece of paper or in a diary, we can talk as much as we want. Nobody is going to judge us for that. The piece of paper will remain patient no matter how much we write about ourselves. We can write happy things or sad things, it still won’t get tired or bored. It will listen to us all day, every day. So it becomes our patient friend.

Writing For Yourself

I resonated with this quote not because I have no friends or loved ones who would listen to me. It is because I recently experimented with journaling. I would write about how my day went, what happened during the day, and what I learned from the day. The good thing about this was, I could write whatever I wanted to in my journal. I didn’t have to show it to anyone, I wasn’t going to publish it online, and in fact, I wasn’t sure if I would ever read it again in my life.

Writing about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences allows you to live in the moment. Whether you are feeling happy or sad, you are accepting it and expressing it to yourself by writing about it.

Journaling has been practiced by people for a long time. Marcus Aurelius (121 AD – 180 AD) wrote a journal that would later become one of the most influential books of all time – Meditations.

So it is a good practice to keep a journal. It doesn’t have to be for others to read or even for yourself to read. It just has to be about accepting and expressing what you feel at the moment. And, as Anne said, no one will judge you for expressing yourself and writing about yourself. Your journal will not get bored or tired. It will stay patient as long as you want it to be.

Your Patient Friend

Now that you know about your patient friend, you know what you have to do. Make good use of your patient friend. You don’t have to be scared to say whatever you want to this friend. It won’t get offended, angry, and it sure won’t judge you.

Hang out with your patient friend at least once a day. Enjoy your time together.

You can benefit from your patient friend by:

• expressing your inner feelings, experiences, thoughts, and observations.
• tracking your daily activities.
• writing about opportunities.
• identifying negative thoughts and making sure to avoid them.
• practicing positive self-talk and auto-suggestions.
• expressing your desires.
• expressing gratitude.
• showing love to your friends and loved ones.
• remembering what you learned.

Final Thought

Talking to people and expressing yourself to them can be an extremely daunting task. You might be worried that you will say something bad and offend them. And, most scary of all, they might judge you for it.

It is good to not care about what others think about you. But it is also important to know what you should and should not say to them. Sometimes, somethings are better left unsaid to the others, no matter how close you are with them. Instead, say it to your patient friend who will never judge you for anything.

Your patient friend will always be there to listen to you.