When the time is right

When the time is right, I will... You’ve thought it. I’ve said it. We’ve probably even drafted some plans around that fill-in-the-blank part. It may be something that we really need to do, should do, or would like to do. It can range from making a will to leaving an abusive relationship to quitting a job to starting a diet. We are waiting for the time to be right, meaning that the planets are aligned, we’ve saved a million dollars, or hell has frozen over. Mostly we are waiting for the kick in the butt or for something to shift internally so that the time feels right.

If you are like me, you’ve learned that the time is rarely ever right. Not until we make it right. On Saturday I had breakfast with a woman who is waiting for the time to be right to make a decision about a major move. The I’m-moving-to-be-close-to-family-because-it’s-that-time-of-my-life type of move. A wonderful friend is settling in to her new life thousands of miles away because the time came to be right for her to make that hard decision. Yesterday I was at the memorial service of a dear colleague. I had the privilege of accompanying her somewhat on her journey she refused to let be defined by cancer. We cried when she shared that the time was right to tell her fourteen and ten year old sons that she was dying and when she asked me to find time on our boss’s calendar so she could tell him it was time for her to retire immediately. 

You know, as I know, that for most things, the ducks will never be in a row. Don’t get me wrong. Animals in the wild have millennia of learnings on when to migrate; farmers on when to sow or reap. There are better times, not just always that perfect time to get us off our keisters to do what usually turns out to not be as difficult as all our worry and procrastination thought it would be. So, what are you waiting for the time to be right for and what can you do instead of waiting?

Marilyn