The Boredom of Waiting

Waiting can be a long drawn-out boring process, especially if you have no-one to talk to. Whether that's waiting in a queue, waiting at a bus stop, waiting while travelling, waiting for someone to turn up who you've organised to do something with, waiting is boring. The more you focus upon how boring it is though, the more slowly the hands of time seem to turn.

There are a few things you can do or think about when you're in these situations to help pass the time.

Here's a very early post of mine called: 'Getting over Boredom'.

1. Take the time to Think

When waiting you will normally have the chance to properly think to yourself. It's a perfect opportunity to have a think to yourself about things concerning you and/or to sort things out in your mind. The amount of times that I've managed to sort things through in my mind due to the time spent waiting (on a bus for example) is countless. Often you can sort the issue out by just applying some thought and if you can't - well you can certainly have a clearer picture of it anyway.

2. Other people are in the same Situation

Whenever you're bored waiting for something a thing I sometimes think to myself is that other people are in the same situation to you now. If there are people around you waiting for the same thing (e.g. waiting at a bus stop for a bus) then it's easier to think about this. Try to see what they do to handle the boredom, they may like you be thinking about things to pass the time.

If you are waiting for something by yourself then thinking about this isn't as effective as you can't see the other people, but you can surely bet that there will be people waiting somewhere for something.  

3. Organise your week

Something I do when I've got some downtime waiting is to organise my week. I sometimes won't be able to do it all at once but I usually have a good idea to what I've got to do. For example: I will record my work hours on my phone calendar and then plan travelling routes around that. I'll also add other things that I'm going to be doing and even what time I need to be getting-up on some days due to work shifts and/or other events. I view this calendar every day on my phone so I always know what I've got planned to do next. 

It doesn't have to be with just a phone calendar that you can do this, no, you can actually buy organisers - devices used for the sole purpose of organising your life's activities. A simple pocket notebook can also work really well if properly organised and updated.

4. Observe others around you.

Whilst waiting can be a very boring and tedious process, it is a great opportunity to view others around you. Observing others around you can be a fascinating thing to do during your downtime and you'll start to notice habits that you do will be displayed upon some of the people who you observe. The more you observe others around you, whether they be just standing or talking with other people, will enable you to become better at reading other peoples reactions and responses, which can prove useful in daily life.

I have written a previous blog post about observing called: How to Improve your Observational Skills. 

Conclusion

Waiting is something that we all experience. Sometimes the time passes quickly, often it will seem to really drag, but just remember that it's only for a limited amount of time and that others will be going through the same thing somewhere in the world. Hopefully these little tips to help pass the time help you when you're next waiting for something.