Waiting to exhale

A few months ago, after I had settled down for the evening, I started to watch a movie. It didn’t start too well. When I thought i couldn’t take it anymore, just when i decided to change to something else, it started to get very interesting. This was around 30 minutes into the movie. What if i didn’t wait?

This got me thinking about a lot of times when I may have given up too soon on things that could have been of great importance to me. After pondering on this, I asked my self a question: “how is a person expected to know that the first 30 minutes are meant to be endured?”

For the movie, I think it is inexcusable for the creators. The world is full of many impatient people and the number rises daily with fast and more catchy things popping up everywhere. Anyone would expect a movie to draw you in rather than bore you out in the first few minutes.

But with life, sometimes we just have to wait for it. 30 minutes, 3 days, 30 days, 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, 10 years, 20 years. No matter how long it takes, sometimes it usually is worth the wait. But sometimes it is not and it hurts.

Sometimes the thing comes and we realise it wasn’t worth it after all. Sometimes it doesn’t come at all.

Maybe we could just adapt the method I used to get through the first 30 minutes of that movie; I responded to my outstanding messages.

The moment I started feeling bored with the movie, I decided to check my messages. I had a lot of them waiting on my phone from family members, alumni groups and a few other groups. I split my attention between reconnecting with people and waiting for the good part of the movie. That way, I didn’t get too upset with how boring the movie was.

Maybe if we could take our minds off of the thing we are waiting for and spend some more time with friends, family, old school mates and even on things that give us joy, we may not feel the pain and pressure in the waiting so much.

Most times,when the good comes, it usually is so beautiful and totally worth the wait. For me, it always feels like I had been holding my breath and I finally got the chance to exhale.