Stuck in a waiting room? Everyone around you has a story, and you’ve got time to notice.

Waiting only feels like dead time when everyone around you registers as furniture. The man arguing gently with the receptionist, the kid who has clearly been there for hours, the woman reading the same page twice: each is in the middle of something you know nothing about. Boredom is mostly attention with nowhere assigned to it.

Next time you are stuck somewhere with nothing to do, look up for five minutes and guess at one stranger’s day. You do not have to speak to anybody. The point is remembering that every person in that room is as complicated as you are.