n.Waiting to be told you are allowed to want what you already want.
The Human Diary editorial term
Waiting to Be Told
Thabo had the resignation letter written for fourteen months.
Not drafted. Written, printed, in an envelope, in the second drawer, with the correct notice period calculated to the day.
What he was waiting for was somebody to tell him he was allowed.
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He tried several people.
His mother said the job was good and that his father would have been proud, which was not permission and was in fact its opposite, delivered kindly.
His girlfriend said, "You should do whatever makes you happy," which sounds like permission and is not — it is a transfer of the decision back to him with a bow on it.