Latest news with #waiting
The Sun
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Brits spend more than 16 HOURS waiting for late pals every year, research reveals
BRITS spend more than 16 hours a year waiting for late mates to arrive at social events. The study of 2,000 adults found 75 per cent have a friend who is 'always' late – with 20 per cent having to wait an hour or more beyond their agreed meet time for a pal, a study has shown. 2 2 Although they'll typically chase them up after 19 minutes to get an estimated time of arrival. While 60 per cent say summer is their favourite time to socialise, and many (20 per cent) feel closest to friends during this season, it also means more time spent waiting. But 39 per cent will kill time waiting for their mate to eventually arrive by looking at their phones - scrolling through social media (42 per cent), catching up on news (30 per cent), and checking emails (27 per cent). As a result, 45 per cent admitted they've drained their phone battery while waiting for their pals to arrive. To help, Vodafone - which commissioned the research - has unveiled gigantic 'Wait for a Mate' stations across the nation, so people have a comfy place to hole up and recharge their phones while they await their friends this summer. Broadcaster Roman Kemp, testing the seat out in central London, said: 'With my mates, I'm definitely the early bird. 'I find I can use the time to catch up on a bit of life admin - aka check the football scores.' The most popular message sent by 35 per cent of those waiting is 'where are you?'. While 17 per cent go for the friendly approach of 'Can't wait to see you!', 16 per cent are much more assertive and send a simple 'hurry up'. When waiting for their friend, 61 per cent hunt for a cozy place to sit and 10 per cent search for a place to charge their phone. Brits will always have mobile phone & internet signal at home after tech breakthrough that beats Elon Musk's Starlink But tardy mates aren't always to blame as 28 per cent said they deliberately turn up early – with 57 per cent doing so to make sure they can find the meeting spot on time and one in 10 (12 per cent) simply too excited to see friends. One in 10 of those polled, via OnePoll, even use the opportunity of arriving early to get their life admin in order by paying bills or replying to emails. The news comes after it was revealed that most Brits meet their best friend at the age of 19. The study, carried out by Nutella, found that 37 per cent of people found their best friend at school. Over 2000 Brits were surveyed for the study and 67 per cent said that trust was the most important value for pals to share.
The Guardian
22-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
From a punishing void to a chance to observe: how we can learn to wait in life
Waiting is an inevitable part of life. From the slow shuffle at the supermarket checkout to the more profound waiting between a medical test and its result, wait we must. Yet in a society hellbent on speed and efficiency waiting has become the enemy. Historically, the act of waiting had spiritual meaning: waiting for the Messiah or the second coming, waiting for sacred rain, or the return of the Sun God. But in today's world, where time is money and productivity is a virtue, we've developed a pervasive impatience. Waiting raises our anxiety – not just mentally but physiologically, as stress hormones flood our systems. We experience it as a gap to be filled, a void to be plugged. It also heightens our awareness of uncertainty, and uncertainty activates the same neural pathways as pain, fear and threat detection. But while these neurological facts explain our psychological responses to waiting, explanations do not necessarily change these responses. There are different forms of waiting, each demanding something unique from us. Everyday waiting – traffic jams, slow wifi – tests our patience and requires frustration tolerance. Interpersonal waiting, where we are asked to match the pace of someone more vulnerable, calls us to slow down and inhabit a better version of ourselves. And then there is existential waiting, which is particularly challenging as it relates to matters of life and death. Existential waiting can lead us into the abyss: catastrophic thinking, free-floating anxiety, the unravelling of our defences, even the fragmentation of our sense of self. Navigating these moments requires the capacity to bear difficulty with grace, and to cultivate faith and hope that transcend the immediate, without slipping into denial and unreality. It means tolerating anguish, slowing down and navigating suffering, not only with tolerance but with purpose and hopeful endurance. Religious traditions have long valorised such states. Christianity focuses on the redemptive power of suffering through Christ; Sufism sees longing and anguish as paths toward union with the divine; Buddhism teaches us to sit with pain, to observe and detach. Some secular philosophies also mirror these insights. Viktor Frankl, writing from the depths of a concentration camp, emphasised the importance of finding meaning even in suffering. The contemporary rise of death cafes, where people gather to reflect on mortality, speaks to a desire to confront and grapple with the existential unknowns. These cafes offer a space to explore death as a way of enhancing life, inviting us to see waiting not as lost time but as time for becoming – individually, and in resistance to the commodification of time itself. Existential waiting also raises important questions. What are we waiting for? What does it teach us? What are we becoming in the process? But before we can engage with these larger questions, many of us need help simply learning to tolerate the anxiety that waiting provokes. Take Michael*, a high-achieving software developer who came to therapy after experiencing a panic attack prompted by a routine health check. Rational and successful, Michael found himself unravelling in the face of uncertainty as he awaited the results. He described himself as feeling 'out of control' and 'spiralling'. He couldn't sleep. He compulsively checked his email. He imagined worst-case diagnoses. Physically, he experienced heart palpitations, stomach tightness, restlessness and persistent anxiety. Digging deeper, it became clear that Michael's difficulty with waiting was rooted in a familiar psychological pattern. He had grown up in a family that prized achievement and productivity. He had lived a life mapped out by goals – goals that he usually met. But recently, he had been shaken by the sudden death of a close friend his own age during a routine jog. Since then, his health anxiety had escalated. In Michael's case, the medical test – and the waiting it required – was the trigger for a common psychological pattern. His automatic thought was: 'It's probably bad news.' This gave rise to anxiety and dread, which led to physical symptoms like tightness in the chest and a racing heart. His response to this was rumination, compulsive checking, Googling and avoidance of sleep. These behaviours brought temporary relief but ultimately reinforced his anxiety. Underneath it all lay a core belief: that not knowing is dangerous. He struggled to hold multiple possibilities in mind; for him, uncertainty collapsed into catastrophe. Therapy began by helping Michael recognise this cycle. We worked to challenge his catastrophic thinking and to open space for alternative outcomes. He was encouraged to delay checking his email and to soothe his anxiety in more helpful ways. He practised guided body scans to anchor himself in his body's present safety. He learned mindfulness and breathing techniques. Gradually, he began to see waiting not as a void to be feared, but as an opportunity to observe. Over time, Michael's anxiety lessened. 'Waiting still sucks,' he said. 'But now it doesn't own me.' To live slowly and to wait well is an act of quiet rebellion – a refusal to see time as a thief. It is a form of resistance against a culture that equates speed with worth. Waiting will never be easy, but if we develop the capacity to wait with presence and intention we may discover that waiting is its own form of becoming. In the words of CS Lewis, waiting can become 'the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard'. *Michael is a fictional amalgam to exemplify similar cases we see. The therapist is a fictional amalgam of both authors Prof Gill Straker and Dr Jacqui Winship are co-authors of The Talking Cure. Straker also appears on the podcast Three Associating in which relational psychotherapists explore their blind spots
BreakingNews.ie
09-06-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Trolley watch: 408 people on trollies across Irish hospitals
A total of 408 admitted patients are on trolleys in hospitals on Monday morning. 260 of those are in emergency departments while 148 are in wards, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). Advertisement University Hospital Limerick accounts for the largest number of people waiting for beds, with 93, followed by University Hospital Galway with 68 and Mayo University Hospital with 34.
BreakingNews.ie
05-06-2025
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Trolley watch: 379 people on trollies across Irish hospitals
There are 379 admitted patients are on trolleys in hospitals on Thursday morning. There are 251 in emergency departments while 128 are in wards, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). University Hospital Limerick accounts for the largest number of people waiting for beds with 112, followed by University Hospital Galway with 68, and Tipperary University Hospital with 21. Advertisement
