I’ve had several reminders this week about the value of waiting. The video below is only one of the many reminders, and it’s worth the nine minutes of your life.
Just for the record, I don’t like waiting. It feels like a waste – a waste of my time, a waste of my energy (yes, it takes energy to wait), a big, fat waste. And I wait all. the. time. I wait for my children to get out of the bathroom. I wait for my breakfast to finish cooking. I wait for my husband to move the other vehicle from behind me. I wait for the carpool load to fill my vehicle. I wait in the drop-off line at my children’s school. I wait in traffic. For a long time. I wait in line to pull into the hospital parking garage. I take the stairs no matter what floor I’m on or what shoes I’m wearing because I refuse to wait for the painfully slow elevator. I wait for my computer to boot up. I wait for people to arrive to meetings. I wait for the microwave to warm my lunch. I wait for meetings to end. I wait for email and telephone responses. I wait for fax transmittal sheets and the copy machine. I wait in traffic. Again. I wait in the bank teller line. I wait to talk to the grocery butcher. I wait for the neighborhood children to clear the mound of toys from my driveway so I can get into my garage. I wait for the pasta water to boil. I wait for my children to brush their teeth. I wait for the next day. I wait.
Most of the time, my “waiting” is anything but waiting. Just in case you forgot, I don’t like waiting, so I fill the empty spaces with other stuff.
But, there is value to waiting – unfilled, waiting space. It is the waiting that transforms my action. It is the waiting that prepares my mind. It is the waiting that calms my heart. It is the waiting that defines my character. It is the waiting that changes me. And even though it seems like wasteful, negative space, I’m realizing it’s actually the productive focus of the larger picture of me and my life.
Valuable doesn’t always equate to fun, though. Discipline is never fun in the moment. The results, however, are often brilliant. Happy waiting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGLavCC9H5E
Courtney Rokstad
May 22, 2013 11:59 amThis is awesome! I love it.
Phyllis Grabot
May 27, 2013 8:41 pmBrilliant! Though it’s hard to do, it seems well worth the wait. Barco’s Nightingales Foundation is thankful that we have nurses like you. Barco’s Nightingales Foundation is dedicated to honoring the spirit of those women and men who choose nursing by focusing our philanthropic efforts on helping to mend the lives of children and their families. We invite you to join us as we continue to celebrate nurses and the profession of nursing at http://facebook.com/BarcosNightingalesFoundation.