Enduring the Waiting Game

Photo credit: Zach Rowlandson of Unsplash.com

Enduring the Waiting Game

It’s part of life to wait for things. Standing in line for coffee, at the DMV (which is the butt of many jokes), waiting to pay at the grocery store, healing from injuries and so many more instances. We learn to accept it as a daily occurrence.

Have you ever noticed how time goes fast when things happen quickly and how it drags when you have to wait? Why is that? When I broke my ankles in December while skiing, I knew that it would be six to eight weeks until I would be somewhat normal once again. Actually, it turned out to be closer to 10 weeks but who’s counting!

Of course, minor waiting instances like the grocery store and coffee shop are easy to endure, most of us check our phones for emails and messages to occupy our time and be productive. But, when you are young you want to be older, to get out of college, to get the higher paying jobs, to get married, to have kids, etc. There is always something to look forward to if it would just hurry up and get here for crying out loud!

Some would say that it is hard to follow the principles of my TRIP System when you are impatiently waiting on something to happen. I would say that’s exactly when you should apply them:

·      Use tenacity to stay focused on something to pass the time

·      Be resilient to not allow yourself to slip into frustration, anger or impatience

·      Find your childlike quality of imagination to see the fun in the situation and creatively find the humor in it

·      Understand that at that very point in time your actions become your purpose, so you stay positive, on point and ready to move on when the time is right!

I spoke to many Optimist Clubs early in my speaking career, and they have what they call the Optimist Creed, you can read it here. I like how it begins “Promise Yourself”. If you can’t hold a promise to yourself, who can you hold one for? We can all promise to be more mindful, happy, enthusiastic, strong, and patient if we put our minds to it.

TRIP helps us daily to be our best, do our best and to expect only the best. Recognize it, accept it and it will be a part of you. Then you don’t endure the waiting game, you experience it. We are all the sum of our experiences and our attitudes about them.

Remember to take a TRIP for a lifetime, not a trip of a lifetime!

In the end, it’s just one man’s opinion…mine!

Keith……