Your relationship with waiting impacts the quality of your life. Life is long periods of waiting punctuated by moments of completion.
Waiting turns me into a caged animal. An annual physical nearly puts me in the hospital. My pulse is 95 and my palms sweat. Anxiety is a response to delay. If you’ve ever applied for a job or interviewed for a promotion you probably hate waiting.
Delayed flights drive people crazy. When flight attendants ask passengers to stay in their seats so people who need to make a connection can deplane, everyone gets up.
Facets of waiting:
Dread is a painful form of waiting that causes procrastination. Putting things off prolongs pain.
Expectancy is a joyful form of waiting even though it’s frustrating sometimes. Pregnancy includes anticipation and anxiety. Expectancy infuses joy into life.
The weeks before Christmas are better than Christmas day. Trees, lights, and music provide frivolous amusement. Songs like Rudolf and Frosty are goofy. The deeper advantage of Christmas or any holiday are the days before they arrive. Apart from anticipation, a holiday is like any other day.
How to wait well:
Our attitude while we wait reflects the way we think about ourselves. Confidence waits better than insecurity.
To be good at life you have to be good at letting things go.
Preparation infuses wait-time with meaning. The more you prepare, the more meaning you create. My wife prepared for nearly a year before taking the two-day CPA exam.
Lift up your head and notice glory. The world is filled with glory. Even people are glorious.
Always show up to serve. Seek to make life better everywhere you go, even when you wait.
To be good at life you have to be good at waiting.
What does it mean to wait well?
Still curious:
How to Answer the Voice in Your Head that Creates Things You Dread
Impatient to Get Rid of Anxiety? Impatience Causes Anxiety
