It finally rained
And other things we wait for
I don't know about you but if they say it's going to rain, by God it better rain.
When I was in Guatemala in April (April seems like such a world away now), the weather was forecasted to rain every day.
And on every hour that the rain was going to come, they would move it back by another hour. 100% chance at 5pm, 100% chance at 6pm, the rain continually dancing it's way around the clock.
I've never been so strung along by the climate.
I rambled about this to one bartender as I was waiting on my Caesar salad to go(if I'm ordering a Caesar salad to go, just know I'm mentally going through it). He blamed it on the technological capabilities of the Guatemalan weather men. I stood up for the weather men claiming something about how it's hard to predict weather patterns being in a valley-type situation (something I probably overheard in another valley I'd been in).
We wait for rain, and then we wait for sun, and we wait for the last freeze.
Conversations about the weather turn from this week into next, “it's getting back up to 100 next week though” or get caught in a comparison of expectations, “they said 3-5 inches, we barely got 1”.
Waiting is not what it sounds like, it is not being patient until something happens. Waiting is the opposite of that, waiting is having one foot in the next (awaited)moment, holding both this and the next moment hostage for what you expect to happen.
Waiting is being neither here or there at once.
You put yourself in a pause for what you think is going to happen, but then it does or it doesn't happen and either way you're already thinking about the next thing you're waiting on.
“Can't wait to go on vacation”
What happens if we don't wait? If we settle with what is happening now vs what could possibly happen later.
We can be pleasantly surprised by what does end up happening as if it was never in our control in the first place.
All the while, we are not missing what is here and now by thinking about what is supposed to be here, now, or what will be here, next.
I sure the hell don't want to be able to predict the future. I would have never predicted how mine is playing out and if the weathermen can't even do it 🤷♀️, I've got no business there.
Stay in your lane, with time. You don't know what's going to happen and tbh, it's for the best. Focus on this moment, and you'll get more or at least appreciate the last ones that you do end up having.
If you want more time, stop waiting for it and have it now.
This is as much a reminder for you as it is for myself. Since getting laid off from my tech-job I have had to remind myself not to wait or be anxious about things that haven’t happened yet. I don’t know when I’ll find the right job but I know that it will happen, I don’t need to wait for it. I can enjoy having all of this time off from work vs mentally working myself into a hole about it.
The worst things that can happen is that I’ll become homeless or dismembered or die but none of that is happening right now so I’m not going to worry about it 😅🤣.
Ok hopefully none of that will be happening at all (except death, that is certain)but as Justin Beiber once said, “Never say never”.
Housekeeping:
I've rebranded this blog to PAPA, Practical Advice for a Philosophical Approach. I will probably rebrand it again, I'm finding my footing and you're on the ride with me.
I have a custom domain which is also the name of my book, a reoccurring theme in my journals, A Lifetime of Doozies. This will bring you to this blog.
Paid subscriber only posts: I will post these once a week and they will typically be a little more unfiltered and personal. A paid subscription shows your support for my writing and thoughts and also let’s me know who’s secretly in love with me.
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