I have a particular weakness, a form of frustration that I’m very vulnerable to. It’s “active waiting,” and I’ve written about it before. Basically, I tend to get frustrated when I have to spend time doing nothing.
However, I’ve been working on it. Like all flaws, this one is a chance for reflection. Today I was very “busy doing nothing.” I shepherded my children to various events today; events at which I had nothing to do but wait around for them to finish said event. That’s being a parent sometimes!
And yet, despite the hectic schedule today, I found myself surprisingly un-flustered. I chalk it up to two things:
- I didn’t try to avoid it. Because of how much I dislike active waiting, I often try to avoid it by grabbing small tasks that I can do along the way. “Gee, maybe if I bring my tablet I can answer some work emails while I’m in the waiting room…” Ugh. That never works well and now I’m also flustered by a different failure. Today, I just said, “I’m going to end up spending a good part of the day in waiting rooms, and that’s fine.” It helped a bunch.
- Because I wasn’t trying to avoid it, I got out of my own head a bit and just enjoyed smaller things. I watched people, which I almost always enjoy. I let conversations be struck. I read things I found. It was a nice day.
Sometimes all it takes for joy to leak into your life is for you to not actively insulate against it with an endless array of activities.
The Opportunity Machine 