Waiting for Your Turn

Have you ever said something like, “I’ll take action when I’m ready. It’s not my time”? I haven’t yet read Seth Godin’s book What to Do When It’s Your Turn (And It’s Always Your Turn), but I find even the title itself worthy of reflection. What if it is in fact always my turn? Events happen and in each moment, I get to choose how I respond to them. Austrian psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl, drives this point home poignantly in his beautiful book Man’s Search for Meaning. He argues that even in the most dehumanizing circumstances, the final freedom that cannot be taken away is our freedom to choose how we respond. He says, 

“The last of the human freedoms: to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you become the plaything to circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity...”

Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning

In light of all of this, I invite you to ponder the following: 

Where in my life am I waiting to take my turn? On a scale of 1-10, how mindful am I of my ability to choose how I respond to what has been given to me (1 is completely reactive, 10 is beautifully creative)? What would I like to change about how I relate to taking my turn? What move will I make this week? 

God bless,
Dan

P.S. To be clear, I don’t mean to say that waiting is bad, but rather that waiting because of avoidance or fear is different than well-considered, purposeful waiting.