Impatience is the feeling of being annoyed or restless when something isn't happening as quickly as you want it to. When you're standing in a long lunch line at school and start tapping your foot and sighing, that's impatience. When you're waiting for your birthday to arrive and it feels like the days are crawling by impossibly slowly, you're experiencing impatience.

Everyone feels impatient sometimes. You might feel impatient when your computer takes forever to load a game, when your little brother is taking too long to get ready, or when you're waiting to hear if you made the team. The feeling often shows up in your body: you might fidget, drum your fingers, check the clock repeatedly, or feel a kind of buzzing tension.

Impatience becomes a problem when it makes you rush through things that actually need time, like doing homework carelessly because you're too impatient to work through a difficult problem. It can also damage relationships when you snap at people who are doing their best but just need more time.

The opposite quality is patience, the ability to wait calmly and tolerate delays without getting upset. Some situations genuinely require patience: learning a musical instrument, growing a garden, or becoming good at a sport all take time, and impatience won't speed them up. Other times, a little impatience can be useful, like when it motivates you to find a faster solution to a problem or speak up about an avoidable delay.