Things in life don’t come when we want them. Sometimes they come faster and sometimes we need to wait much longer than we thought we would have to. When life gives us things in good time, we accept the way of life, and yet when we are tested, we start questioning life. Often life makes us wait, and the wait can be very difficult if we don’t endure it with the right perspective.

Every effect has an underlying cause. The challenge is not the time lag between the two, it is our anxiety during the wait that gets to us. Being anxious not only adds to our stress, but it also takes away from putting effort in the here and now for the next thing we hope to achieve. Anxiety makes the wait difficult.

When we live with a paradigm of competition, we become other-oriented, constantly comparing ourselves with people around us. This takes away from our own self-worth and sometimes even our self-confidence if others around us are doing seemingly better. Constant comparison and complaining because we feel dissatisfied makes the wait difficult.

Often we have to make short-term investments for long-term results. The only time we have to build a great future for ourselves is the here and now. But our impatience and insistence of wanting quick results makes us fragile. Being short-term-oriented all the time without respecting long-term value creation in life can make the wait difficult.

If we believe life is enjoyable only when we have achieved something, we have picked up the wrong end of the stick. We lose out on fully experiencing the struggles and successes along the way. Not fully living in the here and now, and constantly waiting for something to work out can make the wait difficult.

And yet our challenges may be real and the burden we carry may seem heavy. But anxiety, comparisons, complaining, impatience, and losing precious time in the present, is not helpful.

A good farmer ploughs and sows today for a future harvest. Our life depends on the seeds we are sowing every day for our own future. But if we wait, we waste the precious opportunity of today. There is much we can do, and need to do. What are we waiting for?

(Picture-Ski slopes at Grouse Mountain, Canada)