The Waiting Game: Do You Feel It?

Its nice to know someone else has the same feeling as me you described exactly what i have felt all my life im 49 now i feel its getting closer but as you say i dont know what it is ive been waiting for

I don't have a feeling of "waiting" but I do sometimes have a feeling of...living in a simulation. It's weird.

Had to look back in on the thread. Amazingly well received for the most part, makes me happy to see people having a nice conversation about "feelings" and not being de-railed..

I have noticed a few have came in and either have not read the thread or did not fully grasp the OP's position.

The OP and others (myself included) are not sitting back and waiting for life to come knocking on the door as a few have implied. What the OP was saying is that she feels like she is waiting for something to happen.

In my posts, I intentionally used the words "anticipation" and "expectation" because that is what best describes the feeling I personally have. I stated very early on, that I am very happy with my life, I have more than I could ever have asked for. I realize I am blessed and I am thankful for it.

But that is not what I interpreted the topic to be. I understood it to be the feeling like you get when you are waiting for a phone call... not necessarily life disrupting or suspending, just the feeling that "something is coming"...or "something is going to happen".

The question is...for me...."What" is coming? Is it a person, an event, is it a slow and gradual change or a sudden shift of the world as we know it?

It's not about people sitting on the sidelines and waiting for "fortune" to drop in their laps...it's about a feeling that some folks have best described for themselves as if the are "waiting" for something....

I posted a long post this morning about my reflections over the night and early morning...it has nothing to do with my personal life, my "get up and go" or anything like that. It is the expectation, anticipation or anxiousness surrounding the feeling that "something" is going to happen.

I hope I said all of that right.

reply to post by zedy63


We are all waiting for the inevitable to happen. Something along the lines of Einstein's discovery of Relativity.

Given the current stage of technology, and its destructive capabilities, it stands to reason in my perspective that the next jump will be, very literally, a "thrive or die" scenario. The "atomic era" ushered in a significant amount of technology growth, and along with it, a significant amount of destructive power.

The same goes for every tool, just the disparity gets larger as they become more advanced. And I think that almost every technological arena is balancing on this cusp, but culturally and socially, we have not necessarily advanced along with it. That is likely to cause some.. "growing pains."

reply to post by Mijamija


Feel free to U2U mean anytime. Sometimes I take breaks from ATS, I get busy, so don't be to concerned if I don't respond back right away. I generally can't stay away for too long. This is one of my favorite places on the internet.

Peace,
Cirque

I dare say what everyone feels is on the "horizon" is their own mortality. From the time we can reason, we know that life ends - for everyone.

I wish I could say I had no idea what you all were talking about, but I do. And it's not a unique experience, clearly. It's the waiting to die. We all are.

reply to post by jcutler12888


I find the emphasis you placed on dreaming in relation to the rest of your situation to be intriguing. My own personal story has a number of parallels with yours--though I am not so free with sharing things about my life as you--and as the years have passed, dreams have come to stand out in my world as...something more. In a practical sense, I draw on my dreams for my creative endeavors, which has led to one book out in the world today and more to come. But in a more personal sense, I feel that the state I find myself in when dreaming seems somehow connecting to the feeling of waiting...almost as though, when I am in that state, the waiting has ceased and there is a harmony in life that I do not have when in the waking world. Oddly enough, there are certain things I have dreamt of for as long as I have felt this sense of waiting, which makes me wonder if there is some connection there, as well. One very specific thing I have dreamt of since I was three years old stands out in particular.
Regardless, I am curious as to if you had a particular reason for connecting your dreaming and feeling and lack thereof to this sense of anticipation. I mean, you appeared to, but never entirely expounded upon it. So...if so, I would be curious to hear precisely how you see the two to be connected.

reply to post by rigel4


Thank you!

wow i cant believe so many replies to this feeling the same

My father was born in 1911. He saw the development of cars, planes, electricity, phones. He saw the landing on the moon, a couple of world wars, lost a couple of brothers in the second. He saw the civil rights movement, the woman's movement and all the social changes of the 60's. He saw the development of atomic energy and bombs. That covers most of the highlights anyway. I wonder what he felt as a kid and throughout his life, if any one of those events, alone or as a group met his expectations or if he died still expecting something more.

Originally posted by Res Ipsa
A psychologist would be able to explain most of what you guys are experiencing.
This is probably pretty common for us 40 something, intelligent, introverts.

Some things are tangible.......A theocracy with a nuke, over population, increasing improvements in AI, abuse of other,new techs..
These things are different challenges then any other ancestor had to deal with. These things are unavoidable, thus the feeling of "something is going to happen"......yes, something is, it has to, and it can't be avoided...but when? and to what effect? Nobody can tell you that.

So there is a real reason why you might feel like the world is holding its breath, or that the vibe in the air is something like knowing a huge storm or tornado is about to hit. Birds and bugs get quite, breeze stops and you notice that the trees are quite, your ears start to ring because they are struggling to hear more than the seemingly sudden silence, you feel it. That is what most of us are feeling now in a way. When we are in public we feel like we are observing more than participating in society. Something is just not right, just off, it just feels like something is about to happen.

That does not explain why most felt this even as a very young child.

I feel the opposite; I have always felt like I am rushing towards something. I will readily admit I have never had a lot of patience, and I feel like I move faster than everyone else. I have always felt that I am moving towards something, but I don't know what that is. Whatever it is, or whatever happens, I can "feel" that it is something big. I feel inside that I am constantly trying to move faster towards something unknown.

Originally posted by PLUMBER1
Here is a question I have for all of you, How many have an additive personality??
I don't mean just drugs, booze or even work, but just with things in general.

My Profile to a tee!!!

INTP: The Architect
INTPs are philosophical innovators, fascinated by logical analysis, systems, and design. They are preoccupied with theory, and search for the universal law behind everything they see. They want to understand the workings of the universe, in all their complexity.

INTPs are detached, analytical observers who can seem oblivious to the world around them because they are so deeply absorbed in thought. They spend much of their time focused internally: exploring concepts, making connections, and seeking understanding. To the Architect, life is an ongoing inquiry into the mysteries of the world around them.

The INTP is typically non-traditional, and more likely to reason out their own unconventional way of doing things than to follow the crowd. INTPs are merciless about analyzing ideas and beliefs, and hold little sacred. They are often baffled by other people who remain loyal to beliefs that don't make logical sense.

INTPs present a cool exterior but are passionate about reason, analysis, and innovation. They seek to create complex systems of understanding to unify the principles they've observed in their environments. Their minds are complicated and active, and they will go to great mental lengths trying to devise ingenious solutions to interesting problems.

Read more: www.truity.com...

For me just the opposite, never had an addiction but feel for those who do. I find it sad.

The first time I was offered a drug at 13 I wondered "why do they need it I am having fun!" I didn't have fun long, no one wanted me around because I was unwilling to join in, with the drugs the smoking the alcohol, I simply never saw the need of losing my mind or changing my perception which was fine as it is.

I drink coffee but when I stop I feel no loss I don't need it, I drink it simply because my husband does and it is nice to do together..mine is all cream and sugar!

reply to post by xEphon


Not a dad here, but the same age and single, and I can feel you on the struggle, otherwise. It's very commonplace to meet someone and about 20 minutes into a conversation, they're like..."I have no idea what you're talking about. That ain't my world." After which they only want to talk about television, celebrities, or hooking up, and do not understand why they don't hear from me again. lol

reply to post by Char-Lee


i did later add that I too felt it as a kid...but I bet it could be explained through psychology. i doubt that all of us are unique in this way....there just are too many samples in this thread of commonality to preclude that it is much more wide spread and common. It might be as simple as an id or ego thing. We all want to be unique and special and in the grand scheme of things we all truly are, but that isn't enough. Granted this thread has drawn out the introverts in force and have felt safe because of shared thoughts and feelings that we all once thought was unique to ourselves or at least as compared to the people that surround us. We are dreamers. We fantasize about being a crew member on Star Trek or how cool it would be to be a part of the Star Gate crew. We want and feel like we should be a part of something greater. The safest place to be most of the time these days are in our day dreams or for me lost in a day of RPG's or 15 episodes in a row of X-Files on Netflix. There is a psychological, rooted in science explanation for our commonality....but that doesn't mean that it has to exclude any other reason....not to mention the benefit so many people have gotten from this thread...that is real human connection good stuff.

What a superb thread and a nice reply
above ^^^

It's very clear from this thread and the other one that asks the same thing.

ITZ COMING.

We all know it. We detect it. We feel it. It makes us nervous and we start storing food water and other supplies and we don't even know why. We're just... compelled to. Like a womens "nesting" instict just before giving birth.

ITZ COMING.

When I saw my husband for the first time, at age 5, I knew we would marry. I knew how many children we would have. I knew what would happen in our lives.......at least the most important events. I just saw it all at once, and it has turned out as I saw it.


I wonder if we have done all of this before and this time we have to get it right. We have another chance.

The 'game is afoot'.

Are you all ready to play?

Originally posted by TruthxIsxInxThexMist
reply to post by smyleegrl

 

Can I ask you if you have ever had a bad accident? Or had anything inside you, like a cancer or tumur? Or any other kind of defect which could have killed you?

If you answer 'NO' to all the above questions, you could be like myself.

I've never had a mortal illness, but I was sick once and hospitalized for a week before they did exploratory surgery. turned out my gall bladder was diseased and I had a stone lodged in the duct, it had cut partway through. I was sick enough that my kidneys shut down and my heart was in arrhythmia, that's why they did the surgery. But I don't think I was in danger of dying from it.

No bad accidents, but several near misses. I was raped when I was younger, but I don't think my life was in danger (although its hard to know that when its happening).

So I guess I'd answer no, I've never really been near death. Knock on wood.

reply to post by HumansEh


Hermit in my 40's here, too. Never felt much in sync with the rest of the world. I just never could understand why so many do what they do when it baffles me. It used to be that I could at least pretend to be social. Now, I'm the hermit. I'd say that my involution to hermit probably began in about 2010. Over the last year or so, it's pushed to an extreme. Like you, I'm not depressed and not even really anti-social as odd as that sounds. I'm just exceedingly selective in regards to who I talk to privately. I just upset everyone else--makes me feel a little like Cassandra. I am waiting and I sometimes feel like I have glimpses of what is coming. I think that I should be doing this or that at times but overall, I am simply resolved for whatever may come as I've tried being the voice of reason. I watch everything that is going on out in the world. I am not blind. I'm very careful about who I listen to because I see so many differing forces at work, trying to manipulate the chessboard into their favor, so this feeling of waiting has nothing to do with listening to doomsayers or radio show hosts (sometimes, the two are the same). It's pure gut.

I've only gone halfway through the thread and I do see a common theme so far in ages--a lot of us seem to be Gen X. Perhaps it is just a phenomena related to the generation as we were told while growing up that WWIII or all out nuclear war could be inevitable. I think about that sometimes when I reflect on my whole waiting game but I'm not sure if it rings entirely true with me as the source. Still, going to throw it out there. The other thing that this thread makes me think of is Calhoun's rat experiment where he overpopulated a cage with rats but gave them everything they needed. Rat society broke down but not all the rats partook in the breakdown. Some became hermits and sheltered themselves from the decay. Calhoun called these rats "The Beautiful Ones".