On Impatience and Telomeres

The world is divided into two groups of people: those who wait on line patiently and those who don’t.

A very popular, the Levain bakery, at the end of my block attracts throngs. I alter my schedule to visit the shop in the early morning, to snare a prized oatmeal scone or fluffy blueberry muffin, like a hunter who knows the habits of the animal she’s tracking.

I’m mystified by those willing to ‘queue up’ as the British say, and baffled by the calm faces of the crowd last Sunday morning as they snaked around the corner of Broadway and 72^nd Street, waiting to shop at Trader Joe’s.

Suspecting some enticing gimmick, I asked the young man holding the TJ sign what motivated the crowd.

“There’re waiting to shop in Trader Joe’s,” he said, with a nonchalance as if the answer was as obvious as the light of day. To my mind, the ‘obvious’ was ‘outlandish.’

I admit I have never been a patient person, but I wonder if people consider how much of their lives they spend on lines.  The estimate is that each of us spends five years of our lives ‘waiting.’

A few years ago, a dear friend, tried to help by gifting me a book of Hebrew letters, colorfully illustrated, and advised me to meditate on them. But patience was required to treat my impatience and I failed to improve.

My impatience has rewarded me. I’ve sailed through some windows of opportunity just before they closed, saving a year in college, and purchasing a piece of real estate at an opportune time.

My mom wasn’t brimming with patience either. She lived as if pursued by a pack of wild wolves nipping at her heels. Actually it was time she tried to outrun.  We know none of us wins this race.

It is thought that the length of our telomeres shortens as we age. Of course, we age as we wait, which brings us closer to the finish line. If we find waiting stressful, hypothetically, our telomeres could shorten at a faster rate.

Perhaps you remember the famous marshmallow study (1972). The experiment observed children who devoured their marshmallows immediately and those who, with the promise of more, resisted the temptation. Children who ate their marshmallows immediately were found to be less successful in life compared to those who delayed gratification. (I bet that becoming aware of this pattern would help the children change it. In support of awareness, is the fact that the study has been questioned: is it self-control or strategic reasoning that underlies a child’s behavior?)

Conclusion: Each situation requires an analysis . To pose the question: Is the treat worth the wait? Is the end result envisioned, worth the time invested? Of course like many situations, the best approach becomes clear only in retrospect.

Dear Reader, I invite your thoughts. Jsimon145@msn.com