Anticipaction

There's something about waiting. Last night, we sent in our final submissions to the Mastermind: Resurrection, and we'll have to wait about two weeks to see the results. I've waited five years for the chance to finally win a Mastermind season, and I really hope I can pull it off now. Either way, win or lose, I'm ecstatic to be selected as an admin and host as Mastermind moves into its next phase as a writing competition!

As I wait for the results to be announced, I realize that I'm waiting for a lot of things. I'm waiting another week for Indy FurCon to open up, and give me the opportunity to surround myself with another caring community for a weekend. I'm waiting to try out for the fursuit dance competition there, even if I'm not looking forward to the call time. Seriously, who approved a 9 AM start? On a Saturday, no less? I'm waiting for the results of another online furry dance battle I'm in. I'm waiting for some stickers I ordered to arrive in the mail. I'm waiting for my birthday next month. I'll officially, unarguably, be in my late twenties. There's a lot of time I spend anticipating things that are yet to come.

But it's important not to waste the opportunities you have before yourself, too. A common theme I explored through my MM:Res writings was one of the Pendulum. It swings up to one side, comes back down, and goes up to the other. Super simple, but it's hypnotic to take in after so long. I compared the swinging of a pendulum to... almost everything. In my finale submission, one could identify a handful of ways that the pendulum specifically swings between anticipation, and action. Wanting to do something, and actually doing it. The windup, and the pitch. The brief stop at the top of the swing, and the movement the pendulum makes as it reaches the bottom and follows the path back up on the opposite side. It's important to keep both sides in mind, lest you fall into a rut that's harder to escape than it is to stumble into.

I have a mantra that I try to live by. That specific story can come later if anyone is interested, but for now, the words I'm trying to etch into the fabric of my soul are as follows: "All we can do, is do all we can." There are times when I can keep going, trying more new things, and experiencing everything around me that I can. But then come the times of pause, where I have no choice but to wait, or to stop entirely and move onto something else. The beauty of those pauses, is that I have other things I can occupy myself with in the meantime. I don't have to sit here and twiddle my thumbs while I anticipate the Mastermind results. I can keep moving. Maybe I'll focus on another game I'm playing, maybe I'll record more dances, or maybe I'll tweak some details for my player character in a new TTRPG I'm trying out with some friends.

I know a lot of people could see all the things I try to keep up with in life as if I were spinning too many plates at once, but I look at it more like a museum of things that interest me. When I walk through an exhibit like trivia on Wednesday nights, I can follow the hall down to DnD on Thursdays, then a workout on Fridays, and so on. Even the act of doing something can lead me to get excited over something else that I know is right around the corner. The opportunity I have to take action during my times of anticipation makes me that much more excited to keep doing each of those things in turn! As they say in Phelvern, the pendulum swings both ways. In my case, I'm going through a period filled with both anticipation, and action. Maybe I'll call this experience "anticipaction"? I'm doing things to keep my spirits up in the downtime between other things. Are there any pendulums that have been swinging in your life lately? What seemingly opposite forces have been acting in harmony through your own unique perspective?

Tell someone today that you love them, and remember: you can't dot your T's, but you can cross your eyes!