Who
likes waiting? I don’t. Waiting is hard. And yet, there is so much
waiting to do in life. I overheard two ten-year-olds recently:
“I’ve
been to Disneyland before,” the first said.
“I
haven’t. What’s it like?”
“It’s
fun, but you spend most of the time waiting in lines. The lines are
so long.”
Even
in Disneyland there is a lot of waiting. I guess it is inescapable.
Recently,
I’ve been looking back on the year and seeing how much I’ve grown.
It’s nice to see that there is improvement. Day-to-day, that’s hard
to see.
Waiting
for visible improvement is hard. If I lost a few pounds every time I
exercised, it would be a lot easier to keep up. A month of exercise
without any improvement at all, on the other hand, makes patience
difficult. (And exercising is much less fun than drawing or
painting. This is probably why this is such a difficult habit for me
to keep. Maybe if I could keep it up long enough for me to be a
little better at it, I’d enjoy it more…)
A
speaker at church on Sunday reminded us that we learn a lot faster
with formal education. I went home and started researching art
schools and programs once again. I looked at the cost and sighed and
closed the windows in my browser.
Learning
on my own is more difficult, and takes longer. But, I do improve. I
am getting better. I just need to be patient and keep it up.
Waiting is hard. It’s a good thing that art is fun. (Most of the
time…)
If
waiting isn’t much fun, how do we develop patience? Looking back and
seeing progress helps. Remembering why I’m doing this helps.
Promising myself specific rewards helps. Feeling accountable in some
way helps. (For example, not wanting to miss a day in your
sketchbook or on your blog, or having someone you draw with or share
pictures with regularly. Finding a mentor to check in with is good
too.)
I
often remind myself that if I wasn’t doing any art at all, I would
miss it. Time would pass either way, and not doing any art wouldn’t
bring me any closer to my goals. And those times when everything
goes right somehow and something I did leaves me asking, “I made
that?” That’s probably the most motivating of all. It’s worth the
wait.
Do
you enjoy waiting? Do you have any tips for making waiting fun or at
least a little easier?
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