10 THINGS TO DO IN A SEASON OF WAITING

(Image Supplied: Erin Assur)

I always thought that to ‘wait’ meant to stop while anticipating something. Like a child waiting for their parents at one specific spot to get picked up from school. I was implementing that in my job search, academics, and even medical results. Mix that stop mentality with anxiety and you get a mess of self-doubt and emotional fireworks. It changed for me a few years ago when I realised that waiting is less of a stop and more of a pause if you realise and utilise the things you still can control. 

So here are 10 tips I’ve personally found helpful in my seasons of waiting…

1. Improve or learn new skills.

I’ve found that in times when you’re left waiting for something that can take up to a month or more, improving or learning new skills can help give you a sense of purpose and drive. In the three months after I finished high school and was waiting for my college year to start. I wasn’t getting far at all with my job search and ended up in a slump. I felt useless, like nothing I did mattered, but when I decided to continue learning a language I hadn’t touched for over a year, I started to notice I was speaking more. Not only practicing my pronunciation, but spouting little facts to my family and friends really helped me to get out of my head. I was using my passion to find something to do with my day where I could actually see progress within myself.

2. Meditate

Meditation is very versatile and you can adapt to any situation. You don’t have to sit on the floor for an hour everyday, but by taking deep breaths in a waiting room to remind yourself that you can only do so much. Meditation can help you focus on your surroundings and slow down your thoughts and heart rate. As a person of faith, I personally like to partner meditation with prayer to keep my spirit in check as well as my mind, body and emotions. It could be a good way of taking the focus off of the situation and yourself for a while.

3. Get creative

Even if you wouldn’t call yourself the Picasso or Van Gough of this era, sometimes it helps to utilise even the most basic means of expression. Painting, making music, baking cookies, or even redecorating your room can bring a deeper sense of control in a time of uncertainty. The new colour you choose to paint that outdated wall or the genre you’ve always wanted to experiment with as a songwriter; even the new recipe you’ve been wanting to try out can do wonders as a fun and challenging distraction from whatever may be clouding your thoughts.

4. Write in a journal

Journalling can be one of the most helpful means of getting in touch with yourself again. Writing down and being able to acknowledge - even to yourself - what you’re feeling, getting a grasp of the situation at hand in detail, who is surrounding you. The best part is you can be as descriptive as you want. You can wreck it after or keep it to look back on and see how far you have come later on.

5. Hang out with your friends/family

Spending time with other people is one of the best ways to get out of your own head. The distraction and support from someone else is priceless. Not only are you passing the time, but you’re building on your relationships and creating memories.

6. Work

I know people say it's not healthy to throw yourself into your work as a distraction, and yes that can be true, like everything, it's about how we exercise the balance. It may not be a long term fix, sometimes it's good to put yourself in a goal-oriented mindset and work towards it. In a season of waiting, you aren’t always able to control the situation or the outcome. Working may give you that back even for a short while. It isn’t about isolating yourself, it’s more about reassuring yourself that there is something you can still control so there’s not such a huge feeling of helplessness. You decide how much effort you put in, you decide how you're going to approach each customer/situation.

7. Read a book or start a new tv series

If you’re someone who feels like they always need a reason to release those tears that just don't want to come out, then let a soppy romance or sad crime fiction story give you a reason. If you just want to escape from reality for a bit then try being a fly on the wall for someone else’s.

8. Listen to music

Music is much more powerful than people realise.. I’m sure if I were to say “put a finger down if you listen to sad music when you're already sad to make you sadder”, a solid chunk of millennials and gen z are gonna do just that. Sometimes other people know how to say it better, or maybe a simple instrumental piece can help calm down any anxieties you may have. Maybe you just need to dance and release some endorphins to stop the gloomy thoughts from overpowering you.

9. Find a weird hobby like starting a collection 

As a family of music fanatics, you will find albums and CDs lying everywhere in my house! I personally find it really satisfying to complete collections and series made by artists, so maybe if you’re like me, this could be a fun and quirky way of goal-setting for you.

10. Start a passion project!

It doesn’t have to be big or expensive. It can be something small that you can work on in little bits, something you know you won’t get bored with. You can use your new skill you’re developing and enlist the help of your family and friends or fly solo and keep it as something you can be proud of. Whatever it may be, or however it ends up, let it be a means of honest expression. Who knows, might end up learning a thing or two about yourself.

If you haven’t noticed yet, these suggestions predominantly surround taking charge even in the smallest areas of our lives, and that’s usually the exact thing someone needs when they’re in a season of waiting. Anxiety and waiting can be a scary mix, because the unknown could - not always - mean the worst. This can inevitably end up creating a sense of uselessness and hopelessness. That’s why taking charge of your emotions and intentionally choosing to do something uplifting like hanging out with friends could make such a great difference. With that said, whatever you’re waiting for, I sincerely wish you all the best and I hope these little tips and tricks can help you find some peace in this time.