Patience (Full Episode - Archive)Patience (Full Episode - Archive)
Relational Recovery
Hosts Wes Thompson and Austin Hill talk about why patience is so difficult yet essential in recovery, relationships and faith. They reflect on conflict, self-sabotage and slow change, framing patience as a choice and a skill that can grow over time.
30:48•17 Sept 2026
Patience, Pain and Second Chances in Recovery
Episode Overview
- Patience is central to recovery because meaningful change usually happens far slower than people expect.
- Being patient doesn’t mean staying silent; it’s about the tone, timing and attitude used when addressing problems.
- The inner story someone tells themselves strongly shapes how patient they can be with others and with their own progress.
- Impatience can lead to self-sabotage, including hurting oneself emotionally or through relapse as a way to ‘punish’ others.
- Patience can be treated like a muscle that grows through repeated practice in stressful and uncomfortable situations.
“I’ll show you, I’ll hurt me. That’s my favourite trick. Because nobody wins in that situation, right?”
Interested in the personal battles against addiction? This archive episode of Relational Recovery digs into one surprisingly tough skill: patience. Hosts Wes Thompson and Austin Hill chat honestly about how hard it is to wait for change, especially in a culture that prizes speed and instant gratification. You’ll hear them talk about patience as something most people only notice when it’s missing.
Austin jokes that no one goes around saying, “Wow, they’re just so patient,” even though it’s a key part of healthy relationships and lasting recovery. The conversation leans on a Christian framework, with Wes pointing to examples like Jesus on the cross and the story of Job as pictures of patient endurance in the face of deep injustice and suffering. The episode gets practical too.
Wes describes patience as showing up in *how* you say hard things, not avoiding them altogether. Rather than exploding, he shares a recent story of cooling down first, then asking calm, pointed questions in a difficult conversation. Austin builds on this by framing patience as “the effort that goes into allowing people the space to grow,” without pretending that harmful behaviour is okay.
Recovery-wise, they look at what happens when impatience takes over, including self-sabotage and the inner story that says, “If they don’t change right now, it’s over.” One memorable line sums up that dynamic: “I’ll show you, I’ll hurt me… because nobody wins in that situation, right?” From family disappointment to slow relational repair, the guys keep tying patience back to everyday choices in sobriety.
There’s light humour along the way—especially when Austin calls small children “little terrorists” that turned him into a more patient dad—but the tone stays compassionate and real. If you’re tired of how long change seems to take, this conversation might help you ask: what would it look like to treat patience as a muscle you can build rather than a personality trait you just don’t have?
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