Waiting, aan het wachten, espera, feitheamh... no matter the language, waiting is not always the most positive of feelings. In fact, waiting can be incredibly stressful.
Whether we're waiting for someone who always runs late, or a bus (which is always late!), or for the people in the queue ahead of you at the bank to finally stop asking endless questions of the teller, it can be absolutely maddening to watch the time tick by and feel frustrated by having zero control over when you will get what you need.
The examples given above are minor in the scheme of things. When the subject at hand is of greater import, like waiting for the outcome of a medical test, or a job interview, or waiting for someone's response to your marriage proposal, anxiety levels escalate to the point of feeling unmanageable.
Many years ago, when most important communications were delivered by snail mail, I felt that I simply could not sit at home waiting for Year 12 results which would advise whether or not I would be leaving my home town, living away at a residential college and attending Uni to study music.
Friends and I booked a mini holiday away, so it would be impossible for me to check the mail box a hundred times a day. The break was a wonderful distraction, but the long drive home was agonising, knowing that my fate (for the near future, at least), had been decided.
I'd asked my beautiful mother to open the results for me. As we pulled up to the house, Mum was outside watering the garden, a very serious expression on her face. She didn't smile as I walked towards her, but then suddenly threw the hose up into the air, soaking us both as she screamed "YOU'RE IN!!!" Sweet relief, joy, bliss...
How do you cope with waiting? Perhaps you're naturally sanguine, in which case could you share the recipe please?! Or perhaps you've had lots of practice waiting, and have lots of helpful tools for dealing with this at your disposal?
Love to hear your thoughts!
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