I have been alive on this Earth for 18 years now. That is around 6,750 days, give or take a couple, that my lungs have been breathing and my heart beating. Subtract about a year off of that and that is around 6,205 days of me being to actually walk myself from place to place. Take a little more off and that is about 6,149 days of me speaking and communicating to others.
You would think by now I would understand the concept of “good timing”, or at least get a better watch.
But alas - I have not.
I have suffered my fair share of awkward encounters that only bad timing can conjure and being an adult past the pre-pubescent phase, I really have no excuse.
There have been stumbles that “Wipeout” would have only dreamed of airing. There have been conversations interrupted that I definitely was not supposed to hear. And finally the classic awkward “I like you” spoken, only to be followed by “Umm..about that..”.
Time after time I have missed the mark, wishing that just once I would walk into the cafeteria and be the last one to get an omelette or that finally I would get my schedule right to see that really cute boy when I walk out of class.
Although, I am learning not to use “bad timing” as an excuse for things happening in my life. To not think of it as “bad”, “unfortunate”, or “crummy”. To not blame the things that did happen because of the things I wished happened.Instead it is just becoming "timing".
Woke up for your 8 AM at 8:04?
It is okay, maybe you were supposed to catch up on your sleep.
Went to the cafeteria at 10 AM and found out they stop serving hot food at 9:30 AM?
Now you know for next week - also peanut butter on a bagel is a pristine option so you really have not lost anything here.
Missed the memo your true love took fake poison @Romeo?
Welp. This one is kind of morbid - ignore this attempt but always double check plans with your star crossed lover.
Liked a member of the opposite sex only to find out that about a month prior they liked you but now they are currently dating someone else?
The most common scenario and here is the honesty, you were not supposed to be with them at that moment. You will probably realize this or you will have a Sk8r Boi moment and really regret not being with that “superstar salamming on his guitar”, either way great realizations have been made.
Now this maybe too "glass half full" for some of you and to be honest with all you who have stumbled on this article, it is a little for me too. The waiting game that timing presents us with feels like hours on end of that pit in your stomach feeling that will not go away. It reveals to us the actual outcomes we wanted despite how much we pushed them down. It leaves behind a mist of regret and anxiety in the air with the faint smell of what could have been.
But there is also something beautiful about timing - when things do not necessarily work out for you, they are working out for someone. The person in front of you who got the last omelette in the cafeteria is pretty stoked. The yellow light you debated going through and thought was so inconvenient on your way to Chipotle allowed a mother and child to turn left without getting into a car accident.
Everyday we have the option to either look at things as a mistake and a scapegoat for things we don't necessarily like, or to actually face things and understand the opportunities they are giving us and others.
Sometimes bad timing is the silver lining.