The very first day of kindergarten, we are told to wait our turn, whether it is for a game or for asking a question. In middle school, we are told to wait to get in a relationship because surely it will not work out anyways. By the time we are seventeen or eighteen years old, everyone seems to tell us to wait to grow up. “Don’t rush this time,” they say, “You’ll look back and hate that you wasted it.” Well, I am looking back now, and I don’t feel as though I wasted a single moment.
The idea of waiting usually implies that something good is just up ahead, we just haven't reached it yet. We wait in line for our coffee, wait to meet “the one” who will make everything okay, and wait to hit that point in life where we can say, “I did it.” I am done waiting for life to tell me I’ve made it because I have made it. Yes, I’m about to be in a lot of debt for going to an amazing school, and I don’t have a college degree, a relationship, or a cat. But what I do have is an amazing support system of friends and family, and opportunities that still take me by surprise.
Life will always surprise you, but if you simply stand aside and wait for those surprises, you’ll wake up one day at eighty-three and realize that with all that waiting, you forgot to live. Yes, I’m still waiting in line for my coffee, and no, I’m not going to marry the first guy who catches my eye simply because I’m tired of waiting. There are things to have patience for, but living is not one of them. The time between this late night and the day I walk down the aisle will be filled with some of the most amazing memories, and perhaps I’ll meet Mr. Right while waiting for my Venti Java Chip Frappuccino with extra Frappe Roast (It’s amazing, really). There is a singular beauty in waiting for “destiny,” but there is also a deep regret if we look back and realize we wasted away in the moments we were waiting for someone else to define our success.
C. S. Lewis once said,
“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly site harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."
In waiting around, we allow ourselves to mentally “go bad,” and that is no way to live life.
I once had to write an article showing how dreams lead to success. Once I started writing, I came to the conclusion that there were only two types of people: those who dream and those who succeed. Don’t get me wrong, dreaming is essential to success, but only if we act upon those dreams. To place this statement within the context of this article, there are two types of people: those who wait and those who take life by the hand and run with it. If we dream about what our life could be, but wait for life to make itself amazing, we will wake up years down the road with a closet full of regrets and nothing to show of the ideas that once filled our heads.
In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Less Traveled,” he discusses the idea of coming to two roads, and having to make a choice about which one he travels down. Eventually, he chooses the one “less traveled by.” While most would look at this poem and see the idea of choosing something perhaps less popular (and I’m sure that was the point), I see the fact that the traveler did not wait to make a choice. He did not sit down at the crossroads and let life decide for him. He did not waste his entire life waiting for something or someone to tell him which would be the best decision. The fact is, the choices we make in life define how everything else plays out, and if we wait around for someone to offer us the “chance of a lifetime,” we may have missed a million better chances by not taking life by storm in the first place.
This is why I choose to no longer waste my time waiting around for life to happen. I’ve made it. I have an amazing life with people that love me, and though the road ahead may be unknown and undiscovered, I’ve made it to the road. That’s what counts.
