No, not putting on weight. Putting on wait.
Waiting is a tough old game. Nowadays, it might even be considered a skill.
If I have a question or there is a song that I can’t remember the name for, Google has an answer for me within seconds. No waiting required.
If I log in to my Amazon Prime account, I can order that book for next day delivery. No waiting required.
If I am waiting in line for a cup of coffee or a sandwich, I can quickly scroll through about 22 tweets before I get to the cashier. No waiting required.
Everything in my life has had to be faster, more efficient and involve no waiting in any sense.
‘There’s no time to be doing nothing, to be waiting’ … or so I thought.
Doing nothing is doing something
And that something I have found to be remarkably powerful.
I have started sitting and eating my food without a phone in sight.
I have started selecting economy delivery rather than next-day delivery.
I have taken an extra few minutes to try and remember the song, before eventually consulting Google as I just can’t get it.
What I have discovered are precious moments of waiting.
Of rather than trying to crank up the speed of the self and society machine, doing my best to slow it down a little.
Trying to avoid being sucked into the busyness treadmill of modern life that can often make us sick and impatient, that has on numerous occasions made me sick and impatient.
Trying to punctuate my days with moments of self-awareness. Moments of awareness of my environment. Moments of thinking rather than mindless scrolling. Moments of doing…well…nothing.
Taking the time to sit and just wait.
In the waiting and doing nothing, we usually realise that we aren’t missing much. And the wonderful thing is that when what you have waited for whatever does eventually arrive, it becomes that much more special.
This is my case for putting on ‘wait’. I hope that you will consider it too.
H/T to Signal vs Noise