Waiting: Acquiring Patience Through Metaphors - Part Two

Before I was so rudely interrupted by an angry gallbladder...

I was sharing lessons on how to be patient, something that as writers, we need to acquire. You can check out the first installment HERE.  It's about how jigsaw puzzles can be used as a means to acquiring patience.

The writing business takes time, nothing gets done quickly, except maybe that moment when a brilliant idea explodes in your brain.

Waiting in line

           
My first experience of having to be truly patient came with my first visit to Disneyland back in the early '80s. I was with a group of kids. Granted they were teenagers, but still they were not particularly patience.

Oh, those long, long lines!

But I noticed something. We were kept moving, our feet shuffled along at a regular, steady pace. I pointed this out to my frustrated teens who were ready to give up. Once they realized they weren’t standing still, that they were actually moving, they began to relax. They even go to point where they were able to notice things around them rather than being stuck on themselves. They were able to talk and laugh and not complain quite so much.

The lesson I (and I hope some of the kids) learned that day was that no matter how long the line or the wait, we eventually got to the place we wanted to be and that griping about how long it was taking didn't get us to that place any faster. Better to observe people, observe the clouds, smell the smells, tell bad jokes, than to complain. Doing something made the time seem to go by more quickly.

Waiting in line is inevitable whether at the doctor’s office, in traffic, at the grocery store, or with a publisher. The trick, while you're waiting, is to notice what’s going on around you. It’s a way of distracting yourself so you aren’t thinking about the actual the time it’s taking.

You could spend the time scribbling in your note book or reading a good book. The object is TO DO something.

What do you do when you have to wait in line?