Wednesday 2 March 2011

why waiting sucks


Photographer: graur razvan ionut

I am an experienced waiter
Waiting sucks. And I am what you might call an experienced waiter. My waiting experience includes:
  • Waiting over an hour in the GP’s waiting room
  • Waiting 9 months for our house sale to settle on a date so I could move interstate
  • Waiting for people to ring me back about a job
  • Waiting for results of tests
  • Waiting 8 hours in Hospital Emergency with a suspected blood clot on the lung too scared to go home in case it was real (it wasn't)
  • Waiting at red lights
  • Waiting on hold drives me nuts!
Powerlessness
There is a feeling of powerlessness when waiting. The longer it takes the worse it gets. Fears rise. I can’t do anything to help, progress or change the situation. Waiting requires me to do nothing, but nothing is so hard to do. Doing nothing is harder than doing something. I only enjoy doing nothing when there’s something I should be doing! Doing nothing when I can’t do anything anyway, is the worst thing.
Get busy doing something else
I find it best to busy myself with something else. While I waited for the house sale to settle, I decided to get on with life regardless. I channelled my energy into study and gained a very handy qualification. My focus changed from the frustration of uncertainty to the achievement of something worthwhile. Unfortunately waiting is sometimes necessary. But I’m still convinced that it sucks.
What's your attitude to waiting? Click on the comment thingy below and tell me.

3 comments:

  1. yeah agree - waiting does suck! but I'll be honest with you, i don't do it well. it would be something that i'd like to learn to do better. Good blog. Write some more!

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  2. Great start - waiting can seem endless and disempowering and you have shown us how you turned that around to your own advantage by getting busy.
    I'm finding myself getting better at patience when I can't affect the wait - and getting on with life in the meantime.
    When someone is going along at a reasonable (to me) speed, but apologises for taking so much time, they are often startled when I say "that's okay, I'm not in a hurry, you're doing fine"

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  3. Thanks guys for your comments and encouragement. Sounds like keeping busy is a good idea while trying to be patient as well.

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