Because of this, sometimes I caught myself ignoring him even when I knew he wanted to say something. That short term solution proved only to worsen the frustration for both of us. Sometimes I would ask 15-20 questions before I figured out he just wanted to say something simple, like "Thank you" or "Who's that?" However tedious and maddening it was to have a conversation in such a manner, with practice, I became OK with this new style of communication. It wasn't but two weeks that I mastered the art of guessing questions that pertained to what he wanted to say.
In the past, it didn't take a whole lot to test my patience. For example when I was hungry, my enduring energy was burned trying to get me to some food. It was a bad habit of mine to get grumpy or annoyed easily when I was hungry. My normal behavior, with a full stomach of course, is quite easy going. However, when I was hungry, I handed over the reigns of my behavior guiding cognition to my more primitive instincts. I had to tackle this bad habit of mine when working exclusively with an individual, Edward, who needed his food prepared and to be hand fed. Edward was suffering from epilepsy and another rare condition which made it so he couldn't take care of himself in the most basic ways, like feeding himself. Some days we would have been out at a museum or art gallery for the whole morning. In doing so, we would work up appetites the size of Riverfront Park. On our return, the gracious smell and sight of lunch multiplied this hunger ten times. I could feel me wanting to ditch Edward and satisfy my hunger twice over. However, my responsibility called on me to be patient like I never have before. Putting somebody else's nutritional needs above my own took some getting used to. I did get accustomed to it though. I sat there, tummy grumbling, and patiently fed Edward, the stubborn and slow eater, every day for lunch. Learning to patiently feed Edward while I was hungry allowed me to explore a new realm of my patience.