Is waiting a lost art?
I wonder about that really... Have we become so impatient that we cannot wait for anything anymore? I know personally I have been guilty of this and to a some degree still have zero patience with some things.
The simplest examples of my zero patience policy...Long drive thru lines, never mind I will not eat or find a different place to visit. Or how about waiting for a table at a restaurant? I can 10 to 20 minutes, but please do not say anything longer because I do not have the patience to wait for a table that long.
I actually have gotten better with doctors appointments. Years ago that would have driven me crazy, but today I am all good as they say. Once you have sat in a hospital waiting for the doctor to visit, you will understand. They have to be very flexible because their schedules can change in the blink of an eye.
Waiting... How many times have you heard "Your wait time is now 'x' minutes" as you hold on the phone. Ugh!
Why I am writing about waiting and patience? Good question I think, what the heck, I haven't written anything in a while!
The COVID-19 virus / pandemic has caused a lot of problems to say the least. I am not sure of the real numbers, but in America at least 100,000 plus thousand people have died. Those deaths were probably very lonely deaths. As a person who visits the sick and dying, these last few months have been hard not to be there for people who are sick. Families have had to watch or wait for loved ones to die from a distance. I cannot imagine that feeling.
Part of the problems of this pandemic has been the shut down. That is a safe word to use I think. We shut down non essential businesses to help slow the spread and flatten the curve for our healthcare system. We survived the first wave and now as various business reopen, we are seeing a rise in the numbers of new cases.
Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand some of this, we are testing more and more people. When the virus first appeared, tests were very hard to get and now you can do drive thru testing. Also at first when this happened, it seemed people were willing to stay home for a week or two, but as businesses began to fail and unemployment increased, the push was on to reopen as soon as possible.
I am not here to debate any of the 'reasons' or the validity of the virus. Is this a political ploy by the democrats to derail the Trump economy? Good question, the Democratic party seems to take pleasure in trying to destroy this Presidency. The economy is pretty much tanked right now, hopefully it will make a full recovery. But again, if a particular party used a virus to push an agenda, shame on them. Shame on anyone who takes something that is destroying the health and financial well being of millions of people and uses it for their personal gain.
Back on track, the subject of waiting. We cannot wait for things to get back to normal. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that phrase used or have used that phrase myself. Now I am trying to avoid that phrase as much as possible leaving my lips, but you cannot help using it with some things and some people.
But before we get to far, do you really want to get back to normal and what is the rush? Was the normal we had prior to a day in March 2020 really that good? Be honest [I know that is almost impossible today, but try] Be honest with yourself. Was your life that great or had you just gotten into a routine and you were used to it and as a result you conditioned yourself for it?
If you have school aged children, did you ever spend this much time with them? Probably not!
So has this really been that bad? One of the greatest regrets people have in life is the amount of time they spend with someone. At least for a few months this year, that hasn't been a problem if you have been free of the virus.
Back to waiting... I guess my point or thought is that most people cannot wait. The rush to reopen everything that has been closed and get back to 'normal' has been the continual cry from people. I don't want to get back to normal. If it means that someone will die or become very sick because I need to get back to normal, shame on me.
I just want to understand. If someone said you need to not do something for a year in order that you could live another 2 or 5 or 10 or 25 years, would you? Could you wait a year for something, so that you could enjoy the rest of your life, whatever time that is?
Welcome to my world. It is not always pretty and it is not always perfect [actually it is never perfect] and it is a little crazy. I cannot help but look back and see how waiting for something is not a bad thing.
I remember a meeting I had with someone who was interested in becoming a professional church worker. I was amazed by the lack of patience of this person. They wanted to skip the process and immediately enter into professional church work. In the Lutheran church I do not believe it works like that. The person wouldn't have any of the waiting idea, it was really eye opening for me at the time.
I am a second career pastor, which simply means that I worked in a previous career before entering professional church work. I had no previous college education, so to enroll at the seminary, I needed either a degree or at least 60 credit hours and be over a certain age. So when I felt like I wanted to pursue this vocation, there was going to be a huge challenge ahead of me in my thirties, married with children and a full time job. But I guess ignorance is bliss because I didn't even give it a second thought. I worked my 60 plus hour job during the week and went to evening and weekend classes to attend college.
The whole process to become an ordained minister in the Lutheran church took 7 years for me. When I graduated from the seminary at 40 I had completed 3 years of undergraduate study and 4 years of postgraduate work. Talk about waiting for something!
My Ironman has been another long process that involves a long period of time, at least for me.
You want to get under my skin quickly, tell me you can't do something. Tell me that you can only or only have the desire to run a 5k, 10k or 13.1 distance race. If you can run 5k, then I promise you that you can run 10k. If you run half marathons and never desire to run a full... I would say you don't know what your missing.
Now as I say that, of course there are people who have all types of physical limitations and I fully understand and respect that. But for the rest of you, what is your issue? If you are a runner, what is your issue? Many people will tell me they don't have the time to train for anything longer than a 5k. Well I guess it isn't important to you.
Sidebar: I love the excuse "I work a full time job and I don't have time to train". Really is that your excuse or are you saying that to imply that I don't work? WTF!
Back on track. What is important... Maybe that is it, what is important to you? Is that a safe response to my line of thought. As I write this, that comes to mind. What is important? If something is important enough, then maybe you will make time for it.
If pushing yourself to a physical or emotional limit during an athletic competition is something that you want to do, then do it!
If challenging yourself to learn more, to expand your knowledge base is something that you want to do, than do it!
Will it take time....YES!!! Yes it will! What do you think? Do you think this is the Matrix and you will sit back in a chair and they will plug in cord into the back of your head? You cannot be that dumb can you?
I know where I screw up, what about you? What BS excuses are you using to stay in the same place and not grow?
I have learned that to accomplish any goal worth something you have to work for it. No handouts, no special deals, no cheating....
Sidebar:
I was offered a shortcut to finish an IM distance race on time by cutting about two miles out of the course but my coach told the people who were offering me that to get lost.
That was in 2016... To get to that race in 2016, it took me two years of training just to do that race and finish late.
Fast forward to 2020. At this point I have lined up for and competed in 6 full distance Ironman races. Each race takes about 20 to 24 weeks of training to prepare for. To this date, I have not had a perfect race or the finish that I want. It would be easy to stop and give up and say it's too hard to do, but it isn't too hard and I am not ready to give up.
Talk about waiting, this is the ultimate in waiting. I cannot imagine what the day will look like when I finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together for my finish line.
So, back on track.... why can't we just relax and wait? I will continue this subject another day
Well I have to stop for today and actually do some yard work and real work
Peace out