Faith in a hospital waiting room doesn’t look like confidence. It looks like staying.

Nobody in a waiting room feels certain, and the people who look calm are mostly just tired. What holds there is not a conviction you can articulate but a willingness to stay in the chair. Staying is an action, and on bad days it is the only one available. It counts fully, even with none of the feeling attached.

If you are waiting, let the bar be low: sit there, drink water, answer one message. If somebody else is waiting, go and be in the room with no plan to say anything useful. Bring coffee and stay longer than feels necessary.