Waiting

Accepting future as not available immediately
Knowing your place in scheme of things
Embedded in social relations
And natural processes
Anticipated future
Habituated in daily life
Norms and power relations
Deeply encoded and taken-for-granted
As scaffolds they structure social operations
Who waits for who is highly instructive
Illuminates unspoken values
Informs on hierarchies
Creates patterns
Of predictable action
Waiting for uncertain outcomes
A rather different and diverse process
Can be anxiousness inducing and/or exciting
A test result or the birth of a new baby
Examples of differently expected
Events requiring patience
For what is not yet
The element of surprise
Always an unavoidable potential
Despite encoded knowledge practices
Ensuring smooth socio-cultural/institutional life

Barbara Adam, 051119

Feeling the Wait

Will he make
it through the night?
I listen out for his breathing
Any noise is welcome
A sign of life

Being aware
the cancer is terminal
offers time to reflect & prepare
painful remembering
also restitutive

Is it going
to be born healthy?
Is it going to be a girl or boy?
Discomfort increases
Yearn for birth

Will I get
the coveted grant?
Research freeing up teaching
Desired so intensely
impatiently

When will the
this talk ever finish?
The mind wanders and drifts
annoyance melded
with creativity

It will take
a long time to heal
Patience vital to getting better
but impatience the
key emotion

Waiting for
next train, irritated
about repeated cancellations
powerless to choose
alternatives

Emotions associated with uncertainty of waiting:
fear – hope – dread – desire – anxiety – acceptance – interest – quandary – eagerness
excitement – (im)patience – trepidation – resignation – reflectiveness – reminiscence – yearning

Emotions associated with enforced waiting:
annoyance – anger – irritation – resentment – helplessness – disempowerment – calmness – creativity

Barbara Adam, 131119

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