Don’t Wait…

Waiting…we’re all waiting to do things in our life. Whether that’s applying for our dream job, committing to a hobby, or taking better care of our mental and physical health. Regardless of what that is, we’re all waiting to do something, and it’s preventing us from reaching our full potential.

There’s this poem and illustration made by Dr. Seuss called “The Waiting Place”, which I came across last year, and it completely changed my mindset. Here’s what it looks like…

At the beginning of the poem, the narrator says, “…for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go, or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.” And in the illustration, you see people just waiting, with there being no sign of progression taking place. What I’m getting at here is that all of us have been in the waiting place at some point in our life.

As you can tell, the poem and illustration are both quite simple, and that’s what I absolutely admire about all of the work that Dr. Seussm has created. Dr. Seuss was able to take the most complex subjects in life and simplify them through literature and art.

Basically, the message that Dr. Seuss conveys in this poem and illustration is that we often choose to wait for opportunities to come our way — which prevents us from reaching our full potential. But what exactly causes us to wait? Well, it all comes down to our fear of failure. 

We don’t want to feel the pain that failure brings, so instead of pursuing opportunities that are waiting out there for us, we wait for opportunities to come our way because there’s less risk involved with doing that.

Whenever I start to lose focus of my goals — I look back at this poem and illustration to remind myself that the pain that failure brings is temporary, but the regret that waiting brings lasts forever.

There always will be opportunities waiting out there for us, and if we decide not to take them, then someone else will. So to end things off, I challenge you to ask yourself, what things have you been waiting to do, and what’s stopping you from doing them? Don’t wait.

Sources

Seuss, Dr. Oh, the Places You'll Go!