Is Waiting Really the Hardest Part?

Tom Petty once declared that the waiting is the hardest part.

I love Tom Petty, but I disagree with him here.

At the moment, I am waiting to hear on something important. The results I get could send my foreseeable future in two different directions.

Predictably, I’m nervous.

I’m on edge, wondering when the news will drop. And I’m eyeing my phone every seven and a half seconds so I don’t miss it.

To be sure, waiting is no bargain. Tom has got me there.

But for all the butterflies I’ve got in my stomach and acne I’ve got on my forehead, I’ve also got something that’s keeping me upright:

Hope.

The old saying goes that ignorance is bliss. I agree, at least when it comes to my current situation. And that’s because of hope.

I hope to get good news. I hope things will turn out as I want them to.

Though my mind may wander into its dark corners, imagining negative outcomes, hope brings me back to the light.

But the second I get that call is the second that hope expires.

So which is more difficult?

Uncertainty, or the certainty of your worst-case scenario?

For me, it’s the former.

But I know that’s not a good thing, because you can’t hide from reality forever.

At some point, you have to face it, accept it and figure out how to move forward.

And the good news is that while hope is fleeting in regard to specific situations, it ultimately springs eternal.

As Andy Dufresne explains in “The Shawshank Redemption”:

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.

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This originally appeared on 100 Naked Words.