How To Actually Enjoy Waiting In Line (Yes, Really)

There’s a universal human truth: nobody likes waiting in line. At the airport, at a festival, at Disneyland… your joints are aching, you're bored as all get out, and you're about to send someone from your group to see what the hold up is.

Sometimes the stress comes from running late, or because you weren't expecting it. Other times, waiting is simply boring and uncomfortable. Either way, standing in line doesn’t have to drain you.

With the right mindset — and a little planning ahead — you can make the wait easier, lighter, and even fun. And I'm not just talking about leaving early and giving yourself extra time (though that is a good place to start). I'll show you some of my personal favorite ways to make waiting "fun"... maybe even something you look forward to. (Don't call me crazy just yet.)

But first, let's talk about why waiting is SO draining, and why it can bring out the worst in us.

Why Your Brain Hates Waiting

You didn't expect it: Psychologists call this the “expectation gap.” Maybe your local airport security is normally a breeze, but it's extra packed today, the line is crawling, and you can't believe SO many people need to be in the same place as you, at the same exact time.

You're thinking about what "should be" instead of what is, which can make you stressed and irritable.

It's like your brain is saying "this should've been ten minutes!" so now you feel like what's happening is unfair — when really, it just is what it is.

But even when you know a wait is coming, like Halloween Horror Nights at Universal, it can still feel draining.

Maybe because... You don't know when it will end: Long stretches of nothingness put your brain on edge. Research shows people see a wait as more painful when they don’t know how long it will last. This can even lead to something called "time perception distortion" which makes you feel like you've been waiting longer than you really have been. And like maybe it'll never end...

But even if you have the wait time on your phone, staring at you in the face...

You're thinking about all the things you could be doing instead: Humans are hard-wired to hate "lost opportunities." When you're standing in line, your brain naturally calculates what else you could be doing with that time — grabbing food, enjoying your ride, relaxing at the gate, sitting on the couch snuggled up in your blanket.

That sense of loss or missing out is called "opportunity cost bias" — and it can make your wait feel like a punishment or like it's taking something away from you.

Or...

You're thinking about all the ways you could've avoided this: "If only I had woken up ten minutes earlier"... "If only I had picked the other line." This sense of feeling like you're being punished for a decision you made can put too much pressure on you. And it's not grounded in reality — it's actually called counterfactual thinking because it's just that! Give yourself a break.

The reality is: waiting triggers us in many ways. Which means the solution has two parts: changing how we see it and giving ourselves better ways to spend the time.

Change How You See It: The Empty Boat Mindset

This is where Taoist philosophy comes in with something called the “Empty Boat.” (I just saw a post about this on Instagram which then inspired this entire blog post.)

Imagine this: you’re rowing your boat, and you stop in the middle of a lake to close your eyes. Suddenly, another one collides with you. You feel angry. How could someone run into you in the middle of this lake?! But you open your eyes and realize: the boat is empty. And you can't be mad at an empty boat. It didn't mean to run into you after all.

The lesson? Events are neutral.

Our stress comes from the meaning we attach to it. A long airport line isn’t aimed at you. And the person talking on their phone on speaker behind you isn't a personal punishment. It’s just an empty boat drifting along.

When you stop taking the wait personally, you free up mental space. And that space is where you can choose how to fill the time... maybe even have some fun.

When The Line Becomes The Memory

I learned this firsthand at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Normally, the lines are the worst part of the day, especially with my rickety joints. But one time, my friends and I downloaded the “Heads Up” app and started playing while we waited Pretty soon, people around us joined in. We were laughing, acting out ridiculous hints, and we even made some new friends.

By the end of the day, I couldn’t even tell you which ride was my favorite. The lines — the part I usually dread — ended up being the highlight.

That’s the power of both reframing and planning. And there are endless ways you can do that. I put together a few:

Your Line Survival Kits

Think of it like prepping for the wait. The way I see it, you can do 4 things: distract, grow, connect, or calm yourself.

The Distraction Kit

• Silly games like Heads Up, Scattergories, Charades, or make up some trivia about your latest hyper-fixation.

• An impromptu spelling bee. You'd be surprised at your friend's knowledge gaps (and your own) — just be a good sport about it!

• Download a new episode of a show you've been wanting to watch, and only allow yourself to watch it when you're waiting for something. (You almost look forward to a line, then.)

• Have your partner or friends all download the same movie or show episodes and tee them up to all play at the same time and watch together.

• Think about what you're going to do once you get to your destination, or what you're going to do next. Get the next step of planning out of the way, so you're "saving" time later on.
  

The Growth Kit

• Practice learning a new language. Write out some phrases or words in your Notes app before you go, or download DuoLingo or Babble. Bonus points if you practice the language of your travel destination on your way there.

• Queue up an audiobook or podcast to learn about something new. Try to download it ahead of time in case you lose service.

• Save articles or download books to read offline. Again, I like to have a "wait book" — a book I'm only allowed to read when I'm waiting. It's a sick kind of game but I love it.
  

The Connection Kit

• Download the same podcast as your partner or friend and listen together.

• Create a shared playlist: share one song at a time, talk about why you love it, and add it to your playlist to listen to right there, or on your next car ride.

• Play the “question game” with your group: best meal ever, dream trip, most underrated travel spot. Fun if you get more unhinged or more wholesome the more you go. Here are some of my faves from some work ice-breakers we do weekly:

  • What's your "don't get me started..." (Don't get me started on [topic]....!)

  • What's a piece of work you're the most proud of?

  • What's a movie you love that you feel like no one has seen?

  • What's your guilty pleasure song?

  • What has been your peach and pit of the trip?

  • What's the best compliment you've ever received?

  • What's the best bite you took in the last year?

  • If you weren't in your current career, what would you be doing?

  • What's the funniest story your parents love telling from your childhood?
    

The Reset Kit

• Try box breathing (breathe in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4).

• Use the time to notice your surroundings — people-watching is free theater. Make up conversations for people in your head.

• Do some gentle stretches, even simple ones you can do in a small space.

• Do the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique: 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste.

• Download the Headspace app and get some meditation minutes in.

• Repeat 3 affirmations for yourself.

• Think about 3 things you're grateful for.

  
  

The Takeaway

Lines will always exist. Sometimes they throw your plans off. Sometimes they’re just plain boring. But you don’t have to let them ruin your mood.

When you learn to expect it... accept it... and plan ways to work around it... it can be less stressful, and even somewhat "fun."

That’s when waiting stops feeling like wasted time and becomes open space, and free time — time for play, connection, growth, or stillness.

And once you figure out how to enjoy a line or a wait, you can handle just about anything travel throws your way.