I know I wrote about waiting before, and I was comparing it to living and etcetera, but I think I may have been thinking about waiting in the wrong sense.

Some random dictionary I found online refers to waiting as “pause, interval, or delay.” I guess that’s not technically wrong, but I think waiting has been getting a bad rap by people, myself included.

Waiting can be active. You just submitted your resume to what feels like the tenth grad school, but you’re still working on your experience while you wait. You may have queried your twentieth agent, but you’re already working on the sequel to your unpublished book.

Waiting can be productive. Waiting can be beneficial.

It’s being frozen that is the opposite.

Frozen is being stuck on the tenth paragraph of your sixth chapter and watching TV instead. You’ll write later. Frozen is looking at the stack of bills on the table and going out to eat. Frozen is dangerous. And frozen is going to hurt you the most.

And sadly we often confuse the two. I myself thought I was just in a waiting period, until it hit me like a train today that I’m not waiting for anything, I’m frozen in a state of doing nothing. I make excuses and say I’m waiting for inspiration, but if that’s true, I’m going to be waiting for a long time, because inspiration doesn’t work that you. You, unfortunately, have to work for inspiration most of the time, and even then, she’s a fleeting mistress who never seems to want to stay long enough for you to get your work done.

So here’s what I suggest we do. Yes, we. Because I’ve decided to take you on this journey with me.

You’re welcome.

I suggest we push past the frozen and into the realm of the difficult waiting. It’s difficult. It’s not much fun. And it’s never easy. But good things rarely are. And the good things are worth working for, right?

Side note: I’ve decided to leave you with a random song each day that’s currently on my radar.