The Waiting Game

It is called the “waiting game” and we constantly do it whether we want to or not.

We, as Americans, start the day playing the “waiting game.” You are lying comfortably in your bed all snuggled between the covers, head resting comfortably on your favorite pillow but you don’t want to get up. You wait for the alarm clock. Then you drag yourself to the kitchen and have to wait for the coffee to brew, the bacon to fry, and the toast to get done. After a rushed breakfast, you drag yourself to the shower and have to wait for the cold water to turn warm. Once you are dressed and out the door, you turn on the ignition to your car and either have to wait for the car to warm up or to cool. You get into town and you have to wait at the intersection for the light to turn green. The average American commuter spends 42 hours a year waiting in traffic.

We start life by waiting. Our parents had to wait nine months for our birth. Then, they waited for our first steps, the first words, the first day of school, graduation from high school, graduation from college, our wedding day, the birth of their first grandchild. The list goes on and on and it never ends. To ask a child to wait is like pulling teeth. They want it done right now! They do not understand the concept of waiting especially if they are on the way to their favorite destination or their favorite dessert is being prepared. It is sad that our children are not taught the value of waiting.

Americans have come to expect things so quickly, researchers have found that we can’t wait for more than a few seconds for a video to load. And what about waiting for an elevator? You push the up/down button and the elevator door doesn’t open immediately. You wait for a few seconds, and then you push the button again and again and again. Pushing that button over and over will not make that elevator go any faster.

Waiting in a doctor’s office is a real effort. You walk into the office and you wait for the receptionist to greet you, then you sit in the waiting room waiting for your name to be called, then you sit in another room waiting for the doctor. After the visit, if you were given a prescription, you have to wait at the pharmacy for your medicine. Who knows, by the time you have finished with all that waiting, you may be well. But all kidding aside, a doctor’s visit of any kind takes patience.

Why is waiting so difficult? We want the waiting to be over so we can get on with the next task. Maybe it is because our months, our weeks and our days are so filled with to-do lists, we can’t afford to wait. You are standing in line at the grocery store wishing that the whole ordeal was over and you get bored. So, you thumb through a magazine, you check your phone messages, or you go over the grocery list just to make sure you didn’t forget anything. But, waiting in line could be spent in a more productive way. You could notice the world around you like a distant conversation, a clock ticking, music playing, or hear someone laughing, etc. You could simply just relax and wait. Like the old saying goes, “You could stop and smell the roses.”

Yep, waiting is not an easy task. We want things to move faster. But waiting could be healthy too. Relaxing while you wait may make you a lot happier in the long run. Try it.