Every time we interact with another person, that experience adds to their cumulative understanding of who we are. If we behave, on balance, with impatience more than with empathy, that’s who we become to others.
It doesn’t matter if I don’t think of myself as an impatient person if that’s how I behave.
This matters most with those closest to us. The people who love us are most likely to forgive us our lapses, but there is more at stake with those relationships. What’s the average of their experience with you? Looking at your interactions from their perspective, how would they describe you?
What we do matters, especially over time.
