How good are you at waiting for what you really want?
I can’t wait for things. I hate waiting in general, especially if I know what I’m waiting on. Why wait for something when I can get it now? At the end of the day, our time here is limited, so we should make the best of our time, right? Do it now so you can enjoy the time you would’ve spent worrying about it on something else. Get it now so you can enjoy the most time with it. That was my ideology, my motto. Of course this really only applies to the things I can control, but It’s worked for me so far.
Ever since I gained consciousness and could finally retain memories (at the start of elementary school?), my family has named me the doer of the house. If I wanted something, I would get it. If I wanted something done, I would get it done. As simple as that. Wait for my lazy sister to finally get up from her bed to clean the dishes, which would take a couple hours and result in our parents getting mad at both of us, or do it myself now? Free 10 day shipping or spend a dollar more to get that nice 3 day shipping? You can probably guess what I’d choose.
My mom loves retelling various different stories of me when I was little to other people. Every memory she shares always involves me doing some stupid or unbelievable acts to get something I wanted. Her favorite is the day I stood up on my own. My parents were simply just relaxing in the living room of our house, enjoying the weekend with the television on. I had been born in the hospital nearby close to a year ago, and was now a living and breathing organism in the world. I was also chilling on the floor, and crawled around when needed. However, on the coffee table sat my favorite toy car which I must’ve desperately needed. Being unable to stand or walk so far, I cried for my mom to grab it for me, but she was too engrossed in the movie that was on and told me to wait for the scene at the moment to finish first. With my parents’ backs turned, I quietly took action. When the scene finally ended, my mom came to grab my toy, but was shocked to see her not yet 1 year old baby standing with a rubber toy car in his mouth.
Recently, my reintroduction to pokemon trading cards has had a disastrous effect on my ability to wait. For those who don’t know, the pokemon trading card industry has become a monstrosity of a blackhole for money. Prices for everything have shot up, and the gambling addiction of pokemon fans has completely changed how things are. I can’t say I haven’t also done the same thing, because I have. My need to open more and more cards, whether digital or physical, has destroyed my wallet. I had such a hard time waiting for the cheaper cards to come, and would spend much more money on the faster shipping. I just can’t wait.
Maybe my brain has finally started developing, or I've just gotten lazier, but I've begun to appreciate the time spent on things more. The time I spend waiting for things I have found uses for. The wait for the escalator to bring me to the second floor of the mall I began using to rest my legs and chat with friends. The wait for my model to 3D print I began using it to work on some assignments, rather than trying to speed it up and risking spaghetti. The wait for the cheaper pokemon cards I have begun using to work more often. I found that not everything has to happen immediately, or come immediately. Of course it takes time for things to happen. But that time doesn’t have to be specifically for waiting. You just gotta manage your time better, and realize that things will happen when they do.
Good post Ian. You transition very well from a sweet childhood memory into the person you once were and who you are now. You know yourself well and recognize your growth over time, analyzing your own flaws and taking the opportunity to improve. I also liked how you recognized both the good and the bad. Deciding to do the dishes now rather than later is a positive, desirable trait, but spending or even wasting extra money for items that you could have had for cheaper if you had just wasted is a negative one. Realizing that things are not binary, but can be both good and bad, is essential for reflecting on your own actions.
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ReplyDeleteHey Ian, Nice post! I was able to gain a personal connection from your essay. I, too, hate waiting for things. I always want to know what I am doing and have a set plan—improvising life is an inconvenience. However, like you mention, we are not eternal and have a set amount of time on Earth, so it's important to live in the moment or adjust to a waiting period. You have a paragraph talking about how Pokémon is making you broke. In the following paragraph, you bring up coping mechanisms to combat waiting, and Pokémon is briefly mentioned. As a suggestion, I was thinking you could dive more specifically into ways you cope with your Pokémon pack-opening addiction. I think it will help connect the last two paragraphs better. Overall, solid work!
Hi Ian. There is a lot to be said about your perspective of patience through this essay. On the one hand, impatience can make you very efficient, like your example of cleaning the dishes early. On the other hand, true patience is a skill, and it is sometimes beneficial to be able to wait for things without getting restless. Its also interesting to hear how much Pokemon cards have affected your life. A lot of those recreational industries, especially mobile games, profit off of impatience. The jump between the paragraph about the Pokemon cards, which talks about the negative aspects of your impatience, and the paragraph about you learning to wait for things, is pretty jarring. So if you're going to keep working on this essay, I would suggest adding something in between those paragraphs to transition from impatience to patience more smoothly. All in all, nice job!
ReplyDeleteHi Ian, very interesting essay! I felt very drawn into your narration when I was reading and you did a really good job of portraying the conversational aspect of a personal essay. It felt as if you were telling me this in person and was easy to read. Something that you could work on to better polish this essay would be to rearrange or perhaps change the way you format this essay a little bit. I liked how you included an example from the past and now but it doesn't really have a great transition. I also feel like you could write more about the end as a conclusion/ wrap up whereas now it feels like you're expanding more. Overall, very interesting blog!
ReplyDeleteHello Ian! I really like all of the personal anecdotes you wove into your blog. I think that the example of paying extra for faster shipping is especially relatable. Overall you did a good job bringing out a casual tone, which is important for personal essay. I think you make an interesting point at the end, but you should try fleshing it out more. Only in the very last paragraph do you start to reflect on how you've changed from hatred towards waiting to appreciating it. You give some good examples, but try to understand and write about why you made that change. Great job!
ReplyDeleteGood job Ian! You did a really good job narrating and giving detailed examples of times when you were not able to wait for something you wanted. I like how you give positive and negative examples about yourself. An instance of a positive example would be when you do the dishes for your sister, and a negative would be you spending too much money on Pokemon cards. The part that strikes me the most would be your ending. I like how you show the reader you have grown from when you were a kid. "I found that not everything has to happen immediately, or come immediately." This is a great example of you maturing and becoming more patient.
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