In a fast-paced, high-pressure society in which most people face little to no margin of error in terms of time, finance, or vitality, it tracks that we innately expect everything to move along as quickly. Waiting to save enough money for a downpayment on a car or a house; waiting for the next break for a quick weekend away; waiting for a promotion or step up in a career can all be agonizing. The frustration is only enhanced by a person’s ability to see a straight path forward, but receives roadblock after roadblock. It’s comparable to developing “road rage” while pushing a shopping cart through a crowded grocery store. The final aisle is almost in sight, but the aisles are blocked by haphazardly stowed carts or incredibly slow-moving customers.
Even then, the breakthrough might not be a sudden parting of the Red Sea, but perhaps someone awkwardly shuffling their cart against the tiles to perhaps make a slight opening for us.
While “patience is a virtue,” waiting can be, and is often, excruciating.
But the value of waiting – especially in the midst of such a fast-paced, high-pressure society in which many face little to no margin for error in multiple aspects of their lives – has become a lost art. And while the wait for big-picture items often cannot be scaled down – understandably so – waiting is an art that is built incrementally.
The impact of our modern society is evident practically anywhere. A tame example is entertainment. The world would eagerly anticipate a new movie arriving in theaters, often with significant ad campaigns on major networks. The wait for a VHS or DVD copy often took months after the film’s pull from theaters, making it only the more valuable to find a copy in a store, often chock-full of specialties, bonus features, and the like. Moreover, the physical copy promoted ownership rather than subscription-based services.
Now, films have relatively shorter runs in cinemas and DVD copies are typically on shelves before the movie is out of theaters. The timelapse over an innocuous tenet of a lifestyle of yesteryear was enough to not only emphasize the concept of “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” but it also made us able to concentrate on other items worth awaiting, even if we weren’t ever aware of it.
The same goes for television, specifically how the world used to be tuned into the same cultural touchstone. Anxiously rushing home from work, gathering around the television, jumping over the back of the couch as the commercials ended is nowhere near as common as it used to be.
But we all eagerly awaited a new show premiere, an episode of our favorite sitcom, or an exhilarating series finale.
Now, an infinite amount of content is eternally at our fingertips and often with little waiting involved, especially if a show isn’t actively being produced.
These are just tiny examples of how a small, seemingly innocuous, and often subconscious, practice can result in an overall larger impact. With no waiting on the little things as a de facto training ground, the art of waiting is lost in the bigger picture.
We’re not comparing waiting for ample savings to buy a house to awaiting a DVD release, but we believe that correlation equals causation, especially in light of just how urgent and instant our world has become.
Instant online shopping has made lines in department stores all the more unbearable.
Ubiquitous information has made awaiting, or even searching for, additional details almost obsolete.
The mindless scrolling on social media and the seemingly persistent haze of boredom have made the act of passing time largely unproductive and unstimulating.
All while the world around us continues to proceed at warp speed, making the traffic seem downright unreasonable.
And yet, some can’t help themselves, constantly ravenous for the next installment, the next epoch, the next form of entertainment or social media post.
Perhaps the waiting we do along the way isn’t that of a distressed shopper trying to deftly maneuver a shopping cart through a crowded aisle. Maybe the waiting we do along the way is that of the parked shopper who tries to awkwardly drag the cart out of the way while we await our own next moves.
The art of waiting has been lost in a world – and particularly a generation – where the discipline hasn’t been abolished per se, but has been actively discouraged through our own collective lifestyle.
