Patience is a virtue but there are many different examples of it. In some cases, patience is a tool that allows delaying satisfactions to obtain a later reward.
In others, it is simply an attitude towards life, which makes it possible to better support the difficulties of it. It can also be seen as a characteristic of those who think there is a time for everything and who don’t appreciate rushing.
All this can be found in the symbolism of certain animals that represent these particularities. Let’s see who they are:
1. Owl
The owl has a lot of symbolism, but when it comes to patience, the relationship of this bird is particularly based on its usual posture. The bird usually perches on a tree branch and observes things with wide-open eyes. This attitude represents patient people, as opposed to those who act hastily.
While acting in haste can cause us to make mistakes, patience is usually associated with calmness and observation and it is precisely this attitude that is seen in owls, which seem to be unaffected by nothing and have all the time in the world to make decisions.
2. Elephant
The relationship between the elephant and patience has not so much to do with whether this animal exhibits this quality as with the slow pace at which it moves.
Patience is linked to the lack of haste and the rhythm of the elephant, quiet and slow, corresponds perfectly to this idea. This is why he is associated with patience, as he almost never moves quickly and seems to take everything very calmly.
3. Beef
The ox is a symbol of patience because of the difficulties of its daily life. Before, the ox was used as a load and draft animal for crops. This means that from the beginning of the day, he was forced to work very hard. Despite everything, he is a peaceful animal who never caused problems and never seemed to complain about his unfortunate existence. This makes it considered a symbol of patience, because it is able to face difficulties without falling into despair.
4. Ant
The ant and the patience have a relationship based on their habit of hoarding food for winter and times of scarcity. She spends months working hard and without immediate reward. Although she has large amounts of stored food, she will not touch it and will patiently wait for the food to become scarce in order to dip into her reserves. This quality is very rare in the animal world, where what matters is the immediate reward and the present. The ant symbolizes the triumph of patience, because it knows that its work will bear fruit sooner or later. While other species live from day to day and, with the onset of winter, suffer from shortages, she benefits from the result of her previous work.
5. Turtle
The symbolism of the turtle associated with patience is based on two characteristics of this animal. On the one hand, its longevity: if you don’t have a lot of time, it’s normal to hurry with everything, because time is a precious resource. But if you have a long life ahead of you, why rush? You just have to know how to wait and everything will happen.
The other characteristic that defines the turtle’s relationship to patience is its slow pace. When an animal moves so slowly, it must necessarily be patient, because from the start it knows that it will take a long time to reach its destination.
