Settling into the Wait

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake

back

Be serene in the oneness of things and erroneous views will disappear by themselves. – Seng-Ts’an

The Waiting Room

The waiting room of life is the space between our dreams and our days. It is the time that passes between when we know and when we act. It is the conversation between our desires and our fears. It may seem easy to stay in the waiting room. (There is no risk there. There is no rejection there. There is no failure there. There is no responsibility there.) It is not that simple.

The Gift of the Waiting Room

The waiting room is like a butterfly’s chrysalis. It is the place where bodies and wings develop. It is the place where strength builds and a foundation is laid. It is the place where paths begin to unfold. It is the place where the butterfly embraces the outgrowness of things. A butterfly knows exactly when to break through. A butterfly knows ready in its bones. A butterfly is always right on time. A butterfly knows it can fly.

The Cost of the Waiting Room

The waiting room has costs. In the waiting room, we don’t learn, so we don’t grow. In the waiting room, we don’t create, so we don’t expand. In the waiting room. we don’t make our dreams come true, so we forget the gift of hope. In the waiting room, we don’t fail, so we don’t gain wisdom. In the waiting room, we don’t strive, so we don’t know we can. In the waiting room, we don’t push, so we open ourselves up to be pushed by others. The biggest costs of the waiting room are the agony of excuses, the pain of perpetual longing, and the fiction of someday.

Beyond the Waiting Room

Live life beyond the waiting room. That is where the sweetness is. That is where banged knees and scarred elbows are context for success. That is where broken hearts allow for even deeper love. That is where settling looks like thriving rather than just surviving.