Waiting Really is the Hardest Part

Waiting is painful, but we don’t have to suffer. There is another way.

Photo taken by the author (Banksak Beach, Thailand)

Waiting. We are often waiting.

For labwork. Imaging. Pathology. A call. A message. A report.

We wait for an update on what’s happening in our bodies or in another body we love.

Are my levels too high? Too low? Did I break it? Maybe just a sprain. Perhaps there’s arthritis. Is it cancer?

We want them to find nothing. We want them to find something.

We want a path forward, let’s make a plan already. Make it manageable with a short route, please. Not one that requires tissue removal. Not one that requires chemo. Not one that requires a new hip.

Waiting delivers a unique sort of pain that can permeate our days, down to the minutes.

Waiting also brings an opportunity to practice refocusing on what else is happening in our lives.

With our family. In our neighborhood. In the trees. With the friends we lost track of.

Waiting offers us a chance to take a respite from the planning, what-ifs, and if-onlys. To not make the suffering worse.

It’s not distraction to call a friend, text your niece, breathe deeply, hold your little dog and scratch your chunky cat. It’s not a diversion to listen to new music. Maybe take a picture of the clouds. Read an old book or try a protein muffin recipe that you share with your neighbor.

It’s not distraction when you are connecting with what you care about. It’s living.

Life does not wait while we are waiting. The waiting happens whether we enjoy the time, engaged with something or someone meaningful…

or whether we are eaten by worry, consumed with attempts to control the uncontrollable.

Life may not be the same when the waiting is finally over. The time to be present in our lives is now. Even as we wait and wait and wait.

Alongside the many waits, let’s live.

kek

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Note: This post was initially published on my Medium site.

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