I am not very good at waiting. Is that a skill? (A quick search informed me that it is, specifically a “soft skill”) Every day I have multiple opportunities to practice in various contexts with various times and locations. I think I should be better with all that practice; I should be a borderline expert.
Further searching defines waiting as “the act of remaining in readiness or looking forward to something.” So maybe I am an expert. I am always prepared, I anticipate more than one pathway or outcome, and I typically am eager, whether it is some sort of professional or personal event about to occur.
In the season of anticipation, the “feeling of excitement or eager expectation for something about to happen,” I do think about holidays and also birthdays and trips. All are planned, and all brought be much excitement. But when I truly pause to reflect, I also recall college finals, big athletic contests, and funerals, if you can believe it; all of which also were planned. In these memories, I remember much anticipation but with very little eagerness. It was nervousness and anxiety, not excitement. It is not semantics: waiting is not anticipating.
In the past, my body has responded similarly to both though. Many Decembers ago when I was young, my grandfather passed away. His was the first funeral I ever attended; I recall feeling sick to my stomach before it began. Yet I can remember having that similar feeling in my stomach and not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve night. In both examples, I physically could not wait.
Every week parents contact the school through phone calls, emails, and in-person visits. Rarely are these ever planned. Some incident has occurred, and communication and collaboration is desired. Rarely is there any waiting. Action is taken in a voicemail being left or an email being sent, but then the waiting does come afterward. Even when an in-person visit happens, thinking a response will be immediate because it was in-person. The outcome again though is waiting: Waiting for more conversations or an investigation, waiting for steps to be taken or consequences given, waiting on a change.
But waiting on a change at school should include anticipation (that feeling of excitement or eager expectation for something about to happen). Learning is a process that takes time and builds on multiple habits being formed. Behaviors come from a combination of experiences, interactions, and exposure to others. Both take time and often a lot of new effort for that “something about to happen.”
Winter Break arrives on Friday with the first semester ending seven days later after we return. The break and the semester are significant as events themselves, yet the time might come and go with maybe not much being different. Thinking about it now, can there be any changes from the three weeks? I know there will be more waiting, more practicing waiting, so I hope from that waiting -- WITH some time and effort -- there can be some growth. I will be ready for when the "something" happens, so I can collaborate on the opportunities of what can come with anticipation.
Happy holidays!
Weeks at a Glance
- Wednesday, December 18 - Student-Athlete Eligibilty Suspension
- Friday, December 20 - Student Council Winter Dance, 6:00-7:30 pm 7/8 gymnasium
- Saturday, December 21 - Wednesday, January 1 - No school, Winter Break