Getting through the Wait
Like many other Zennials(?), I grew up with national broadcast channels as my exclusive mode of watching shows. Every week, I’d enjoy an episode of whatever was showing and that alone would get me through the days of the week when my favorite shows wouldn’t air. Fast forward to the army of current-day streaming options and the norm of dropping entire seasons rather than episodes, and I’m constantly reacquainting myself with the process of waiting.
Right now, I’m enjoying the fourth season of HBO’s Westworld, which has been dropping an episode a week. It has me contemplating the benefits of the pause. And this experience has shown me that I can be more mindful of the art I’m interacting with, especially as an artist myself.
The first benefit of the pause is that it allows me to digest what I’ve consumed. I’ve often fallen prey to the hype wave. This is the season where everyone seems to be watching and loving something, be it a book, TV show, album or movie. It entices everyone outside of the wave to hop in and ride the crest until it dies down.
I’m not hating on anyone enjoying trends, but when I’m done with a series, I want to be able to remember what it was about, how it made me feel, and the distinct points I want to carry with me long after I’ve watched it. Pausing allows me to pat my proverbial belly and sigh with satisfaction. It’s a wonderful thing to be alive in the television age.
The pause is a space where I can begin to imagine the next phase. Exercising my imagination is a part of the digestion process, but it moves further. This exercise works on the material received, and then, it taps into my desires for the future.
When the Three Dark Crowns series by Kendare Blake was still in the process of release, a friend and I would excitedly map out what might happen next. Together, we’d review the events of the last book and imagine where the next book would take us. And in the books where our imagination and what actually happened differed, we found a way to reconcile and accept the landscape at which we’d arrived.
The most precious aspect of the pause is that it honors the time and energy required to create a captivating experience. I love waiting for new seasons, new albums, new anything. As long as I can stomach a story and it invigorates my imagination, I am ready to be patient for brilliance to shine in its own time.
Granted, the world of TV production and publishing presents timelines that may not always depend on or even follow the desires of the creators behind the masterpiece. But as far as the creator needs time, I see only more space for digestion and imagination.
When you find yourself in the wait, what gets you through? How you do process what you enjoy? How do you pause?
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