Skip to content

Hurry Up and Wait

June 18, 2013

By act

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

I love the season of Advent. There is something about waiting and preparing in the anticipation of good things to come that I love. I like to think that I’m a patient person, but there are certain things that I struggle with being patient about.

Time is one of them.

When I travel, I find my experience of time shifts”¦Not because I choose it to, but mostly because it has to.

Yesterday I was in the elevator of my hotel. I pressed the button to get to my floor. I waited. Nothing happened. I looked for the “close door” button. I couldn’t find one. That’s strange, I thought”¦ How do they close the door? What felt like an eternity passed, and eventually the door closed.

The next time I was in the elevator the same thing happened, only this time when I looked for the “close door” button I remembered that there wasn’t one. My habitual response made me reflect on my experience of waiting and how I’m so easily triggered to want to rush that experience.

The next time I entered the elevator I reminded myself ““ there is no button.*

It takes a bit of work, but we can shift our experience.

Being here in Tanzania is helping me to shift many of my experiences, my experience of time being one of them. It is a challenge and an opportunity that I take on with appreciation and gratitude.

No wonder I like Advent so much. It is like a mini step out of the hustle of my daily life when I try to speed up my experience of time.

How to find that in my regular routine? Tanzania is teaching/reminding me of how to do that.

Instead of hurrying up”¦ I’ll just wait.

*I actually counted how long it took for the door to close. The eternity I felt first time around was all of four seconds”¦

All News Posts

For media requests please contact Communications Coordinator Janice Biehn at (416) 924-9199;366.

Africa Stories

Field Blog

Public Engagement

Stories by Region

Tanzania Stories