The Waiting Room: Part 1 – a practical approach

A waiting room: perhaps you imagine a perspex enclosed space with rows of metal seats on a station platform. A bit chilly, boring, sterile devoid of stimulation. It may be the dentist or the doctor you think of. Recently I passed the windows of the GP practice I attended as a child and was astonished to recognise the drab walls and brown chairs. I could only hope the magazines weren't half a century out of date!  Some waiting spaces however are decorated with pictures, have comfortable seating and play corners for children.

 

What is your waiting room like - the one inside your head? Is it a pleasant space where you can continue to live well while the next phase of your life unfolds? Or is it cramped with tension? Do you relax in it or pace up and down until you get the answer you want from life?

 

In an extreme crisis, we may pace up and down or freeze into inactivity depending on our personality but there are many situations where we need not put our life on hold.

 

‘I can’t go on holiday until the house is sold.’ Really? A week away to relax is unlikely to jeopardise the transaction. 

 

‘I can’t invite anyone round because I’m waiting for the decorators (who’ve been promising to come for weeks)’.

 

‘I can’t change my job until the children leave school’.

 

Let’s suppose these are reasons and not mere excuses. If it’s genuinely impractical to take a break, have a day off at least. Do something you’ve been meaning to do – go horse-riding or to the new gallery that’s opened. If you’ve moved all the furniture for the invisible decorators, meet your friends for a meal, plan a picnic in the park. Even ordinary common sense like this can work magic. Waving your creative wand breaks the spell and unlocks the waiting room door.

 

Of course, you may be kidding yourself. These days it can be a long time before the family flies the nest. Make sure it’s not a convenient way of deferring a new challenge. Who’s really holding the key?

 

There are times when circumstances are beyond our control. We have to wait for news, be it of a medical test, an exam result or a job interview. Instead of staring at the walls and wishing your life away, create an interesting space in which to spend this time. There are several approaches to this:

 

 

 

 

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Are you in the Waiting Room? One of those transition times when you can’t go back and you can’t go forward? Maybe you’re not quite ready, maybe you have responsibilities that mean you are not yet free to move on. But you don’t want just to sit about watching the clock tick. Life’s for living, even in the Waiting Room. Invite me in to coach you through this special time when new possibilities are brewing. 

 

For coaching by phone or face-to-face, contact Alison Clark on +44 01700 500489 www.wordsinaction.net

 

 

 

Come to the Isle of Bute for a few days and we can explore the Waiting Room in peaceful surroundings. 

 

 

Read more about letting go and moving on, in my practical guide to happy endings 'How to Stop flogging a Dead Horse'