Waiting

I found this in my inbox today. It's a writing response I had to write for my Communications class two years ago and I kinda liked it.

The assignment was to write our thoughts about this quote: "How much of human life is lost in waiting." --Ralph Waldo Emerson.

One of the things that Americans are best at is waiting. With theme park lines, college acceptance letters, and true love, we are constantly waiting for something. But, like Emerson ponders, how much of our life are we wasting by waiting? Much of my life has been squandered away because I have been too afraid to take action to obtain something that I want, reasoning that if I wait just long enough, surely that thing will come to me. Life is partly about taking risks. You don't learn if you never find the courage to get out there and experience life, even when you are terrified of making a mistake.

I have had many experiences with waiting. My personality is one that often dictates just how outgoing or courageous I am (or am not) when it comes to what I do with my time. I have often been stuck inside of myself...waiting. Waiting for the right words to say, waiting for the perfect moment to tell someone something, waiting for someone else to make the first move. Often I've been told that to override my fears I have to be willing to jump in headfirst. Waiting just prolongs the inevitable and makes what's coming that much harder to deal with.

In our society, particularly within our Mormon culture, this situation comes up regularly. Girls are taught during young women lessons and youth activities to make up lists about their perfect spouses. They devise long and lofty goals of who and how their perfect guy should be. Then, when confronted with an opportunity at being happy with someone, if that guy does not possess everything on her perfect list, she throws away a chance at happiness because she continues waiting. Waiting for something that will never be there. Perfection is not found in every day experiences. Perfection comes over time. It is a never-ending process. One too long to be waited for.

Our lives could be so much more enriched, enlivened, and experienced if we would only stop waiting. Although it is said that the best things in life are worth waiting for, it is my personal belief that the best things in life are actually the things we go out and attain ourselves.