It was when I was the editor of the Maricopa Monitor in Arizona
that I first recognized there was an upside to waiting for something to gel.
Several times there was pressure from outside to print a
story that felt “not ready” and my gut told me to hang on for a week or two. On each occasion, given the extra time, a
significant piece of the puzzle would be presented and suddenly the article
would stick together in a way it hadn’t previously.
After the month of writing 50,000 words, known as NaNoWriMo, I
had more than the required words to be “successful”, but it didn’t feel right.
It’s not that I expected the tale to spring forth whole and in perfect form.
There was something intrinsically wrong with it. I’ve been sitting on it ever
since. About two weeks ago, it came to me what needed to be done and I’ve
gotten started on the revisions. It will be a much better book for the waiting.
Yesterday, I had a transformative experience. For quite a
while I have been unable to move forward on a number of things, including the
promotion of my newly formed small business. I felt a serious blockage on it
and on other aspects of the life I’m trying to build for myself.
I was washing
dishes last evening and as I scrubbed three major chunks of my life fell into
place. I could almost hear them…clink, clink, clink. It was as much physical as
mental.
Does anyone remember Tetris, the Gameboy game of dropping puzzle
pieces that needed to be fitted together to continue and it had to happen under
a deadline? The sensation I had was similar in that I felt a bit of peace come
over me when these slabs of existence presented themselves then nuzzled
together in harmony.
I now know where I’m going for the foreseeable future and it
is good. I’ve found my path and I’d like to say it was through patient waiting.
But it wasn’t. I’m the most impatient person in the world. Yet, somehow, I
survived through it and I’m on the other side of that suspension of time.
That, my friends, is the upside of waiting it out. Congruence.
