“We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.”-Voltaire

Everyone hates waiting whether it is in the checkout line, waiting for a package to come in the mail, or just waiting for the weekend to arrive.  We complain about stores that don’t hire enough cashiers and how we’ll never find our soul mate.  We hate waiting for our food to arrive in a restaurant and for the next chapter of our life to begin.

What we fail to realize is that we don’t have to wait for overall change.  Yes, waiting will always be a part our days, but that doesn’t mean we should sit on the sidelines our entire life.  Instead of expecting happiness and success to drop out of the sky, we should take an active role in pursuing them.

In ‘Tangled’, Rapunzel spent years staying inside her tower, because her mother (or who she thought was her mother) told her to.  She spent her days waiting around and doing activities to keep her from boredom instead of taking a risk and finding out what was in store for her outside.  She wondered when things would get better for her in ‘When Will My Life Begin’:

Just as Rapunzel trusted Mother Gothel, sometimes we trust others instead of heeding ourselves and what we know we should do.  Instead of following our dreams or doing what we’re called to do, we listen to the people around us that tell us to be realistic.  We confine ourselves to a predetermined form of life instead of thinking creatively about our aspirations.

We hate waiting, yet it is so easy for us to wait instead of taking action.  We expect things to happen on their own.  We look ahead to the future for an event or circumstance that we think will make us satisfied.  We should live more in the present, taking small steps that will help us achieve our goals.  Life is brief; a few breaths and then it is gone.  Life is what is happening while we are waiting for something better to come along, so appreciate today.