We are often relegated to waiting rooms in life, and those experiences differ for many, many reasons.
Rushing
When we're in a rush for any reason, the waiting room becomes an onerous place. Waiting rooms while rushed feel like prison cells. I remember once, simply marching out of a waiting room at a doctor's office because I was rushed--the childcare was about to end, and I couldn't wait any longer. I also remember tapping my feet, wiggling in my chair, spewing unkind languge under my breath, and self-coaching myself to calm down when rushed in a waiting room. I've also tried to calm down others who are evidently rushed in waiting rooms. Rushing and waiting rooms don't match.
All the time in the world
When I'm not rushed, the waiting room is a fine place especially if I bring along a tech device, good book/magazine, or my journal. I don't mind looking around the room, watching the people, and getting involved with my book, journal, or tech device.
Wondering
Waiting rooms are places where we wonder? Typically as we wait, we wonder--we wonder about the check-up, the cost of the services, and the resulting needs and actions. In the most challenging times, waiting rooms can be places where we wonder if a loved one will live or die, and in the simplest of situations, we may wonder if we'll have to have a follow-up appointment for ourselves, our loved one, the car, or job interview.
Comfort?
The comfort of a waiting room makes a difference with regard to your experience. I've been in many a cold, concrete, messy waiting room, and those uncomfortable places add to your worry. I've also been in warm and welcoming waiting rooms which definitely calm you down.
Waiters
In the waiting room, you are often in the midst of people who are not in your typical friend, family, or collegial group. You notice the looks on their faces, the clothes they have on, and the activities they engage in. You overhear their conversations, and may engage them in small talk too. While those moments with the other waiters are typically few, they do impact you in subtle, and possibly overt ways.
Waiting is a natural experience in life. Right now as we wait for the election results, we sit in a diversity of "waiting rooms" throughout the country and world. We're all engaging in a large array of ways to deal with this waiting--waiting that serves to stymie some of us.
What is your waiting room like?
What are you doing as you await the election news?
How is this alike and different from past waiting room experiences?