[Science Solitaire] The wisdom in the wait

I was supposed to go on an adventure in Rajasthan in India early this year but decided against it because of the pandemic. I had been waiting to go on that adventure for maybe 16 years, and when it was finally about to happen, this brainless entity with a deadly crown arrived and shifted me, together with the rest of the world, to a most unusual adventure – that of waiting.

“Unusual” because “waiting” is “usual” – it is part and parcel of our lives. Every day, we wait for the coffee to be done, we wait for the shower to heat up, we wait for our hair to dry, for the traffic to flow, for our computer to boot, for our calls to connect, for our wi-fi to work, for the line to the restaurant to move, for the night to fall. “Waiting” is as common as yawning. In fact, think of the word “wait” and “yawning” will probably be one of the words that will stick to it. And you may even find yourself yawning too. 

“Adventure” is also not something we associate with “waiting.” Waiting is usually experienced as the “space-time” between adventures – the airport gate, the doctor’s waiting room, the inconsequential in-between meals. Waiting is a necessary pre- or post-adventure lull.  

But this pandemic has forced us to wait under conditions that require vigilance and creativity – the badges of what we consider “adventures.” It is also an adventure because unlike the “waits” we are used to, we don’t know when this will end. We know from the history of epidemics and pandemics that this will one day be over but we do not know when. But this kind of wait stresses us because the human brain is extremely uncomfortable with uncertainty that it will naturally force us to make decisions and form beliefs, regardless if there was any reasoning behind it. 

But facts are very stubborn. They will persist regardless of our beliefs. And we are faced with no other choice but to sober up to reality. But what if we transform our view of the “wait” and embrace it as part of the adventure of our lifetime? What if that “lull” can be a “lullaby?” 

I propose we take some of our cues from what I call the “time warpers” – those designers of experiences that have transformed waiting times into discrete and distinct experiences. 

You can find them in digital design as “dynamic content place holders.” These are animated designs you see as you wait for a page to load, when a video is buffering, when you are downloading content. They fill your wait time so that your uncertainty lessens as the animated shapes fill up signaling that you will soon arrive at your “destination.” Sometimes, they will also show images to distract you and sometimes, you follow the distraction and end up in places that you even find worthwhile.

Inspired by “dynamic content place holders,” what if our public places and digital go-to’s have creative countdowns to a vaccine, a very effective treatment or even cure, and suggest ways to boost our collective mood so we could endure and enrich our individual “wait” times? If there is a Doomsday clock, there should be a Yeyday clock. Artists are such magicians and shape-shifters of time. If time is an arrow, artists can “bend” and “crush” that arrow into all sorts of weird “shapes” so that we all get to experience its different effects on our waiting spirits. That will fill us with creative anticipation in place of drudgery or dread.

Another inspiring cue is from rides in theme parks as you wait in line. If you have ever gone to the Harry Potter rides, you know there is always a very long line but that “line” is an experience in itself. It is filled with many intriguing objects such as painting that moves in unexpected times, that can grab your attention that you forget that you are in line and that the “ride” has not even started yet. 

Inspired by those long waits in “rides,” what if we fill the 1-2 meter spaces in between our physical distancing spots with surfaces where we can make chalk/pen drawings that change and deliver messages to help each other wait? What if the long lines at checkpoints had speakers that delivered nature sounds of bird song, the sound of the ocean or soothing music? 

Another cue is from museums. You can find them in between museums’ “main attractions” such as the resident dinosaur or the Mona Lisa. These are usually spaces intentionally filled with pieces that never caught popular media attention but have histories that are often, even deeper and more fascinating than those pieces that people usually target in their museum visits. Museums also have spaces where they prime guests for main “attractions.” These are opportunities to prepare guests with more information relevant and required to experience the main attraction.

Inspired by that cue, we can live out this wait time to prime ourselves to “deserve” the main attraction which is the better normal. We can seize this chance while everyone is listening to make all of us realize that we all caused the pandemic and that the wait, if we spend it transforming our thinking and restoring nature, then eventually arriving at the “dinosaur” or “Mona Lisa” of our wait, will be so much more rewarding because we helped make it happen. 

This wait can be creative and enriching for us and we can take our cues from the present. Time does not care if we are waiting for something or feel that we are already in it. It just goes. Time can run out on us but what it cannot do is fill it for us. What if we intentionally live out wisdom in the wait so that we can have an even better normal? – Rappler.com

Maria Isabel Garcia is a science writer. She has written two books, “Science Solitaire” and “Twenty One Grams of Spirit and Seven Ounces of Desire.” You can reach her at sciencesolitaire@gmail.com.