Waiting takes a lot of patience. I had to travel with my children recently. We had to wait for hours. For my five-year-old that meant forever! We had to plan in advance and take books and download games to keep her busy.
Waiting and planning go hand in hand. You cannot just sit around and wait for an opportunity, you have to be taking action in small phases. Learning, researching, developing the requisite skills that you will need when you leave the waiting room.
Sometimes, you might not be aware that you are building the muscles you need for a future endeavour. You might consider it just marking time, or just helping others achieve what they want. You cannot see how you are achieving anything for yourself, but you are.
Today, I run an editing and content creation business. I started out helping friends edit their short stories. I thought I was a writer who was just helping friends. Until one day a friend said, “You are an editor who also writes.”
There it was! It explained a lot to me. Answered many questions I had been afraid to ask myself out loud. On your journey to being your best self, watch out for the things you are doing in your waiting time. They are more important than you think.
Are you gossiping and cursing out the people around you with your important waiting time? Are you making positive plans? Are you surrounding yourself with friends that bring you up rather than tear you down? Are you being busy looking for ways to help rather than saying there’s nothing you can do? How are you waiting?
Lesson for the week: the waiting room of life is a place of opportunity and activity. A place where secret progress can be made. Take advantage of it.
PS: There’s a screen writing training on August 27-28 on Zoom. If you are interested in attending send me a message and I’ll send you the details. Maximize your waiting time. If you love reading, you can find some good books here.
Until then,
Love,
Pamela.