Waiting. It seems that we are all doing a great deal of it these days. One thing that I am sure of is that I have been doing my fair share of waiting lately. Our lives seem to be on freeze frame as we wait for the go ahead to return to the life as we once knew it. At the moment there is not much else we can do but wait, patiently wait.
Patience is a virtue, so they say. I'm not sure that I have this virtue in my personal toolkit. For those of you that know me, I'm not what you would call a patient person. I have been described by some as 'the energizer bunny'. I am a bit of a hyperactive person (maybe more than a bit). I am a man of action. I like to get things done. Waiting is really not something that is in my DNA. These times are especially difficult for me personally because I have no choice but to wait.
I feel like I am in the Ground Hog Day movie. Each day seems to be the same as the last. There really is not much to do (or at least things you would like to do). My pace of life has substantially slowed down recently. This has been due to a number of factors including my recent retirement, our current state of affairs with physical distancing and my cancer diagnosis.
A cancer diagnosis quickly consumes your life and forces you to postpone, re-think and in some cases cancel your plans. Your life is suddenly on hold. Waiting is painful for me. Over the past six months I have been doing a lot of waiting. Most of this waiting has not been by choice. Waiting for test diagnosis, waiting for results, waiting for updates on progress and waiting for what is next on my cancer journey. Patiently waiting for the go ahead and opening up of the economy and opportunity for travel, so that my family and I can fulfil some of our dreams and wishes. Still we wait.
On the brighter side, waiting gives me time to think. Time to reflect and time to reminisce.
Recently I have been thinking a lot about some of my friends and colleagues who are also going through their own cancer journeys. They too are waiting. One is waiting for surgery to remove her cancer which has been recently postponed and the other (who has just been released from the hospital) is waiting to find out why they continue to struggle with stubborn symptoms that don't seem to want to go away. Waiting is hard for all of us.
At this time, there is not much else we can do, but wait. We are all waiting for things to get back to normal. Will things every get back to normal again?
I guess we will just have to WAIT and see!
Richard
So true Richard - waiting is really hard! I think it’s especially hard when we are distracted by so many thoughts, wishes and frustrations that we find it difficult ti focus our attention. Normally I’m delighted to spend time reading, but recently I find myself wandering off from my book and wondering when we will hear news that restrictions will be lifted. It’s definitely hard to be still and content in all the uncertainty.
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