I remember when I was young and going out for the first time to bars. My friends and I used to leave early so we wouldn’t have to wait in line, particularly in the winter. As I got older, I didn’t have to stand in line anymore. My friends and I would bypass the line because we knew someone or someone who knew someone. It’s been a long time since I have had to stand in line. There was a time when the thought of it as unthinkable, I became spoiled with the benefits of skipping the line. In life, you can’t skip the line all the time and all of us are learning how to stand in life’s lineup.
When you think about it. There is a line up everywhere. In traffic, at the grocery store, airport, subway, restaurants, festivals…I mean we are all lining up. Life’s lineup is deeper than just fulfiling our wants and desires. Life’s lineup is the road we are all on in this journey called life. There are times when we feel we have been standing still forever. We want to get to that desired place yet it’s not getting closer. Some days we will feel like we are finishing last and other days first.
Standing in line tests our patience. If you have ever observed people standing in line you will notice the number of people who get upset by the person who takes their time ordering or paying. You probably get just as frustrated. Let’s use these moments as a teaching moment, although frustrating the act of waiting is a little life lesson we often miss. How quickly does your mood shift? How angry are you that you have to wait? What’s it like for you when you really want something and you have to wait?
This is a lesson in patience, gratitude and preparation.
Standing in life’s lineup doesn’t mean you are waiting for your turn, it means you are preparing for your turn. Are you ready? If you have ever been to the passport office, you know that you will spend a good amount of time waiting. Have you ever watched people who finally get to their number and they are not prepared? They suddenly realized that they forgot a few things. They dread waiting, but in turn, didn’t spend the time preparing. An hour lost that could have been spent running back home to get those missing documents. Alas, we rush to get there, even when we aren’t fully prepared.
Some would argue, you’re never fully ready for anything in life. This is true, but you can be prepared. There is a difference between being ready and prepared. Being ready implies that you know exactly how the events of life will unfold. None of us will know the exact details, therefore, we can’t be ready for the unexpected whether good or bad. With preparation, we give ourselves confidence even when the unexpected moments we did not see coming enter our lives.
I know you don’t want to be last in line. This is all based on the viewpoint, on which way you flip the line. You are first or last, or in the middle, if you want to be, it’s all based on your beliefs; how you choose to see things. Have you ever asked where is the start of the line? For example, you may be the first person in line but then the person standing at the end of the line catches the person’s attention you have been waiting to see. They know they’re last but they came prepared. Their energy is so bright and therefore they were spotted and you were overlooked. This happens in life all the time. The line can start and stop anywhere, it’s all a matter of perspective.
Why we have a negative view of lineups?
Are you simply just standing in line hoping for something good happen? What if the line flipped, you were once last and now you are first, are you prepared? Is your shit together? It sucks feeling like time isn’t on your side. In our society, we put a timeline on everything. We know that life isn’t infinite so we rush. We want to get as much done before…we’re dead. Guess what? Your life isn’t one straight line and it will not be the same as anyone else. There will be moments when everything moves fast and it feels like you are bypassing the line and other moments where you are stuck in line waiting. We hate waiting because we are worried we are losing time. Not just in a day, a month but in life.
Once we let go and understand that time will be on our side if we let it. Everything begins to fall in place. We don’t always need to move quickly to get ahead because we understand that time will slow us down if needed. We understand preparing our minds, our body, our soul and nurturing ourselves with self-love is what will get us to our destination point. There are many destination points. Once you reach one, you will approach another. The pace will fluctuate but just like life, everything keeps on moving; either slowly or fast.
What everyone else thinks
When people ask me how old I am I say I am alive. This is my age. It’s not that I am ashamed of my age, I am not. I understood a long time ago when people ask you it’s because they want to make a conclusion about you. Create a definition of self around you that doesn’t mean anything to anyone but them. They then, in turn, begin to judge you and create timelines they feel you need to adhere to as a result of your age. A timeline they too have moulded their life around. A lot of people adhere to this imaginary age timeline, particularly women. I don’t want to be nor do I want to fit into someone’s framework of time. Therefore the line that I am walking down in life, age or otherwise, is none of their business. It never will be. If I tell you, it’s because I know you get it. If I don’t it’s because I know where your energy is and I don’t allow energy that’s not conducive to my well-being enter my force field of existence. I am not on someone else’s clock.
The same can be said when people ask you, why aren’t you married? I could say to you I haven’t met someone that I am energetically aligned with. A life partner that I can build a good life with and create a new life with. This is important to me. I won’t simply just have a baby to have one. I understand this is a spiritual being I am bringing into the world to nurture therefore the person I decide to do this with has to be on the same wavelength. It needs to be the right fit so we can cultivate a healthy environment of continuous growth for myself, them and our children. But, what I normally say is, I don’t want to settle. Which is true, I don’t want to settle into a mediocre commitment for the sake of doing so. I also, don’t think it’s fair for children to be in an unloving home, just for the sake of having them.
So metaphorically I am still waiting in line for that milestone to take place in my life. I am not idly waiting, I am preparing, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. In this sphere, this is the lineup in life I am currently in. I don’t see myself as first or last. I feel that I am right where I need to be. So are you, right now, you are right where you need to be in life’s lineup. This is the perfect time to do the work before the line moves and now it’s your turn.
Understand the line is your own. When you look up don’t look at who’s in front of you, look at head to where you are going. Keeping going towards it.
