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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
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Gill Straker and Jacqui Winship

From a punishing void to a chance to observe: how we can learn to wait in life

Colleagues with laptop and coffee sitting and checking time on watch
‘Waiting raises our anxiety … We experience it as a gap to be filled.’ Photograph: LightField Studios Inc/Alamy

Waiting is an inevitable part of life. From the slow shuffle at the supermarket checkout to the more profound waiting between a medical test and its result, wait we must. Yet in a society hellbent on speed and efficiency, waiting has become the enemy.

Historically, the act of waiting had spiritual meaning: waiting for the Messiah or the second coming, waiting for sacred rain, or the return of the Sun God. But in today’s world, where time is money and productivity is a virtue, we’ve developed a pervasive impatience.

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