Today's Topic: WaitingDo you ever sit and wonder what your life would be like if everything fell perfectly in to sync, just the way you wanted it to, 100% of the time? Life without boundaries or hurdles, no more lines or what seems like frozen time. You would be in complete control of your life, but, unfortunately, you're not and you never will be...and that sucks.
Perhaps it's the idea of waiting that drives us absolutely insane. Some call it fate, others call in randomness or coincidence. The only certainty in this world is that every time we wait, that leads us into a routine or some next phase of our day, unravelling our existence one passing minute at a time. I read an article in Maclean's magazine the other day about how much time the average commuter spends waiting in traffic. In Toronto alone, the average commuter spends an hour or more sitting in traffic, to and from work. That's 60 minutes a day. 60 minutes less to eat, sleep, be active, walk your dog, spend time with someone, read, watch television, have a beer...the list goes on. Now average that over a week. Over a month. And when averaged over a year, that is almost a month of a year spent waiting. In traffic. Absolutely staggering and mildly depressing. As much as I miss the city that I feel transformed me into the cultured individual I am today, that is one statistic I am happy not to be a part of.
If you added up all the time you wait over your lifetime, we are talking years of your life that are spent waiting for something to happen. You wake up, hopefully not having to wait to use the bathroom, hoping not to wait to use the toaster or oven or on those really cold winter mornings, waiting for your car to warm up. If you drive, you're waiting your turn at a stop sign, a traffic light, a pedestrian crossing or on some occasions, construction signs, school crossing guards or other vehicles on the road. How many times have you gotten into an accident or ran over something on the road, and you count up the seconds leading up to that moment and how things had to fall perfectly into place for that event to take place? Or was it the opposite; when you stopped only inches away from an accident, barely missing that person on the bike or running the light when it's yellow. If you don't drive, you're waiting for the bus, the train, the airplane, the subway or the crosswalk. The stops people make, the time they take to get on or off the bus, and then the factors that make them wait. For all those people who get Tim Hortons or breakfast or lunch from a restaurant, think of the minutes you wait in line, the time that ticks by while you wait to be "processed" from the other person on the till. Waiting for the debit machine to say "approved," waiting for the elevator door to close, waiting for a cab, waiting for a friend (who by the way always apologizes for MAKING you wait), waiting in a line to get into the club, wait for drink service and the classics of all waiting, the mother load of all manners; waiting for your turn. Yes we wait, and then wait some more. And after that, we wait. And while we wait, we are waiting to wait. Then there's the methods of "passing the time" as you wait; check your phone, people watch, read, listen to music or just twiddle your thumbs (literally). Do you notice how we always say, "Sorry I'm late." It's rarely "Oh, I was just late on purpose." Are we actually sorry that we are late and had to make someone late or exhausted? Do we really care or are we just programmed to say, "Sorry I'm late." That's a tough one, right?
If you added up all the time you wait over your lifetime, we are talking years of your life that are spent waiting for something to happen. You wake up, hopefully not having to wait to use the bathroom, hoping not to wait to use the toaster or oven or on those really cold winter mornings, waiting for your car to warm up. If you drive, you're waiting your turn at a stop sign, a traffic light, a pedestrian crossing or on some occasions, construction signs, school crossing guards or other vehicles on the road. How many times have you gotten into an accident or ran over something on the road, and you count up the seconds leading up to that moment and how things had to fall perfectly into place for that event to take place? Or was it the opposite; when you stopped only inches away from an accident, barely missing that person on the bike or running the light when it's yellow. If you don't drive, you're waiting for the bus, the train, the airplane, the subway or the crosswalk. The stops people make, the time they take to get on or off the bus, and then the factors that make them wait. For all those people who get Tim Hortons or breakfast or lunch from a restaurant, think of the minutes you wait in line, the time that ticks by while you wait to be "processed" from the other person on the till. Waiting for the debit machine to say "approved," waiting for the elevator door to close, waiting for a cab, waiting for a friend (who by the way always apologizes for MAKING you wait), waiting in a line to get into the club, wait for drink service and the classics of all waiting, the mother load of all manners; waiting for your turn. Yes we wait, and then wait some more. And after that, we wait. And while we wait, we are waiting to wait. Then there's the methods of "passing the time" as you wait; check your phone, people watch, read, listen to music or just twiddle your thumbs (literally). Do you notice how we always say, "Sorry I'm late." It's rarely "Oh, I was just late on purpose." Are we actually sorry that we are late and had to make someone late or exhausted? Do we really care or are we just programmed to say, "Sorry I'm late." That's a tough one, right?
Imagine again, after reading about just some of the ways that we wait, if everything just went your way and how time would move if we never ever waited. For anything. Those years that seem to fly by, the time that we never get back. The time that we waste every day on waiting for something to happen. Wouldn't it be incredible at the end of our 
life while we are waiting to die or when we do die, we would get all of the wait time that we have "banked" over the years and then have complete access to that extra time to do whatever we wanted WITHOUT having to wait? Pretty unique concept I know.
life while we are waiting to die or when we do die, we would get all of the wait time that we have "banked" over the years and then have complete access to that extra time to do whatever we wanted WITHOUT having to wait? Pretty unique concept I know. Waiting is a part of life, I get that. Maybe I'm just stating the obvious, but doesn't waiting suck? It sucks to wait. Yes, waiting controls our lives, simultaneously everyday to the hope that one day in which we exist in time, we live for the hope and dream that we don't have to wait. That everywhere we go, we could flash our VIP card and zoom through feeling like an important sort of person. I think at some point, one has to ask themselves if we, as a human race, could be a better living, better functioning society if we didn't have to sit around and wait for everything in our life. If instant recognition was possible, would the process still be enjoyable?
I think about all the things living and dead, and I look at lifespans of various things on our earth and our earth alone. There are so many things that we just won't outlive but there are things that we outlive everyday. The fly we just killed, the ant we squashed; superior to both. However, that oak tree that has been on that corner or in that forest for hundreds of years or that house, that museum or that lasting legacy of a piece of furniture or object from history; it has waited for a much longer period of time on this planet, but waiting for what?
What is it in life, in our existence, that we are waiting for? And if no one or no one thing is ever perfect, why do we wait? What are we waiting for? Is there something better? What is the answer? If you're going to realize one thing, realize this. There are so many things that we will never experience and it's all because we have to wait. As much as you may think you control your life and how it happens, we wait for life to happen. Every, single, day. Our patterns and routines are part of large scale sequence of a life clock somewhere that determines our existence. Our start and our end. We sing about waiting for the world to change, waiting on the wonderful, waiting for a loved one or just simply waiting to be loved. Is it hope that drives us to wait? Or is it fate?
In all aspects, we wait for a reason and a purpose. And while you sit there and wait, it just depends on who crosses the finish line first. Or last. However you look at it. Think of everyday as a race you are running. When you finally get to the end, then what? I hope you look forward to waiting tomorrow and then after that, waiting the next day. It's inevitable and unavoidable.
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