I’m very impatient. I don’t even like waiting to know what the weather is going to be. So, when I realized that I’m going to have to wait months to figure out if I got a plethora of things, I knew I would need to learn how to cope with my impatience. 

One of the ways I’ve done that is by learning that my impatience comes from anxiety, so I can probably cope with it using similar tools. One of my favorite tools (and I give my mom full credit for this one) is learning to reframe anxiety as excitement. For example, I could wallow in how much I hate waiting to hear back from literary journals, or I could revel in my excitement for what happens if I get published.Try to find a way to revel in everything. Life is so exciting and beautiful when you choose to see it that way, and there’s no time for impatience and anxiety when you’re too busy being happy and excited. 

But, sometimes that doesn’t work. Sometimes, your mindset just won’t shift, and that’s okay. What I do in these situations is just simply let the anxiety pass. Chances are, you just need a few moments to feel your feelings before you get back to normal. However, this doesn’t mean just waste the day being anxious and impatient because you’re waiting for news. Sometimes you just have to clench your teeth and do things while you wait. 

When you have to just do things, my favorite thing to do is walk. Walk around your neighborhood, walk around your home, or just go outside if a walk is too much commitment. There’s something so grounding about movement. When I’m outside, it just makes me realize that everything is going to be okay, and that’s because the world will keep spinning no matter what. No matter what, the birds will chirp tomorrow the same way they always do. 

On that note, remember that you’re simply an animal, and you can’t possibly have all the answers and all the perfect coping strategies. But you will be shown the answers when you’re ready for them; whether you believe it from some supernatural entity or just simply science, everything will happen when it’s meant to, even if that means you have to wait for it.

 

Until Next Time, 

Ella Greene