Oh, the waiting games we play.
The I’m-not-ready games.
The let-me-practice-a-little-longer games.
The let-me-read-one-more-book-or-attend-one-more-conference games.
The you-go-ahead-of-me games.
We can stall … and practice … and puff ourselves up with knowledge … and even be polite and let someone else proceed ahead of us to success …
but we’re missing out on our lives. Our dreams. Correction: Our dreams coming true.
Could we fail? Yes! But that’s only an indication that we should regroup, rethink, and try again. Failure doesn’t mean we’re wrong. Failure just means our technique was off.
In Others’ Words: When have you been thankful you didn’t wait? What helped you get up and go after what you wanted: a dream, a job?
[Tweet “Avoiding the Myth of “Just You Wait” #lifequotes”] [Tweet “Are you waiting for “just right”? #lifequotes”]
Comments 7
It’s an interesting question for me, because the profession that defined me the most was built around waiting, usually in the most uncomfortable circumstances.
Snap shots sometimes had to be taken but the potential for failure was higher.
It’s hard to meaningfully relate that line of work to anything in the civilian world. People try, but they miss the essence, and the essence is lethal in a way the few business or personal scenarios are.
So I guess I still watch and wait…but when the time comes for action I am pretty decisive.
Author
There’s waiting, Andrew … and then there’s waiting-that-is-avoidance.
Two very different things.
And that’s not what your job was — and not how you live your life either, I’m thinking.
Good point – but I have been accused of he waiting-with-avoidance thing. Being trained to just wait, senses up, wa very hard for me, but was it was ingrained, it stayed. But it can look a lot like the other, particularly when opportunities that others think they perceive slip past.
In all honesty, I’ve certainly waited with avoidance, but it’s not typically the way I live, no.
I love this post, Beth. I tend to stand back and wait. And learn. And wait some more. I’m learning to keep pressing forward, especially on this writing journey. The reality that my story will never be perfect helps me to see the balance between doing my best with it and letting it go. I’m working toward that now.
It seems like life holds a lot of waiting, but the thing to know is when it’s time to stop waiting and to act. That’s been a lot of my experience. In becoming part of a worship team, in becoming a mother, in writing…..there’ve been times to wait and times to act. For me, it’s taking the step forward out of waiting and into action, at the right time. 🙂
Author
Exactly so, Jeanne.
There is a time to wait — while we learn, while we come to understand what we’re doing — yes, wait.
But the wait, wait, wait because we’re unsure … because we’re unwilling to risk because it won’t ever be perfect?
That’s dangerous.
That’s what can keep dreams from being born.
I’m the one who has to caution myself to wait. I often jump the gun, but I’m learning to wait. I always claimed the verse–Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart…but I’m learning verse 7 of Psalm 37: Wait patiently for the Lord…
I think I’m in the game, at least for now. I got tired of waiting. 🙂