TOW: Waiting

Have you ever waited for something, hoping it will happen? Have you ever thought, "I wish I was doing (insert 'x' here) right NOW? Why do I have to wait? I hate waiting. Waiting sucks! Sucks-Sucks-Sucks! Arrrrgggggghhhh!" (I'm sure some people insert different words here and there when they're frustrated with waiting, but different strokes for different folks.) Did you know that we spend an average of 2-3 years of our lives waiting in line to pay for something? Isn't that CRAZY? Now, there is waiting in line of many kinds, whether at the grocery store, or a Marilyn Manson concert, which can be annoying, but even more irritating, is waiting for answers. Argh! Aren't you tired of this blog post? Don't you just want it to end and for me to tell you the secret of life??!! AUGH!

I know that I hate waiting for information after I've requested it several times. I know my mother hates waiting in traffic, often to the point of verging on homicidal behaviour to the drivers around her. Everyone has something they hate waiting for. And waiting, often, is an annoying interruption in that smooth, smooth cycle of life.

Strangely enough, there is a philosophy of waiting. And not surprisingly, one of the most irritating philosophers of all time, Martin Heidegger, just happens to have all the philosophical answers in regards to waiting. Weird, but you're going to have to wait to the next paragraph to get an explanation.

Heidegger said that when people find themselves unexpectedly waiting, with nothing to do, nothing to distract them, they begin to feel what Heidegger calls angst. We feel like there is 'nothing' we can do, and this makes us feel, really, consciously, our place in the world. Sometimes when we are caught unexpectedly waiting, we're really there, and not off day-dreaming about owning a mansion, or making lists in our head, etc. We feel bored, and pensive. And usually we don't like it. We would rather be living in that mansion in our head, or doing something else, anything else, but waiting. When we feel angst, or anxiety, we often feel compelled to waste our time with something trivial, something meaningless, to prevent us from having to focus on ourselves, on being-in-the-world.

However, Heidegger also said that there was a big difference between living authentically, and living inauthentically. We shouldn't be afraid of those periods of waiting we experience. When we experience angst, it's one of our few chances to motivate ourselves to make real change in our lives. The rest of the time, well, we're waiting until the next time we wake up from our usual dream state of smooth, smooth living. Because every moment should be valuable, and it's usually only when we're waiting, that we realize we don't always use our time to its fullest.


And yeah, I know I missed two TOWs.

Sorry for the wait. =)