Once We've Done All We Can

I'm running into an atypical issue with my classes. Namely, I've progressed about as far as I can. I've studied for a quiz that I can't take until Friday. I've studied for another quiz that's due next week and doesn't unlock until tomorrow. And I can't even start on my next writing assignment until I get the prompt tomorrow morning. At this moment, I have done as much homework as I can do. Sure, theoretically, I could read and study ahead, but that would only put me even further ahead of schedule and prepare me for quizzes that I can't take until even later. No, for now, the best thing I can do is focus on my other tasks.

There are or will be times when we've done as much as we reasonable can, and it's not feasible, and sometimes not possible, to do any more. Sometimes, our progress will be slowed or delayed by forces beyond our control. At those times, once we've done everything we can do, there is often nothing left to do but make peace with the fact that we've done all we can. Granted, this is only likely to come up in certain contexts. There's almost always something we can do, even if there's nothing we can do to advance a certain project. For example, when I finished my homework, I could have blogged then instead of putting it off until right now. When we make as much progress as we can in one area, we can usually pass the time by trying to make progress in another.

But still, there are times when all we can do is be patient. It stinks, but sometimes, there's nothing we can do but wait. At those times, we can hopefully rest, confident that we've done as much as we could, so we can wait calmly and patiently instead of anxiously and fretfully. Once we've done all we can, there really is nothing more we can do but rest, stay patient, work on other things if possible, and wait.