Crossing Junctions
The plight of an “in-betweener”

Picture of a typical Singapore HDB block.
Yup, I jay-walk. Every morning. I guess it’s part and parcel of the city routine because that 1 minute makes all the difference to whether you get to work on time (squeezing in the coffee run of course), or not!
So, there I was standing in the middle of the concrete island, I just successfully crossed the traffic going towards the empty houses, and I’m stuck! Stuck now because the traffic buzzing towards the city offices is heavy.
Wow.
Being stuck in between all these traffic, standing alone on a concrete slab, ain’t a nice feeling.
But that’s how it is with this idea of being stuck in between things. It stirs my mind at how many of us are frequently stuck in such a situation that I call the “in-betweener”
(It’s the morning and I can’t quite come up with the best examples), but let me indulge in a few:
- The mom in law and the husband
- Two super close friends
- A great salary but a boring job that lacks an avenue of expression (especially sucks for those creative ones)
- Waiting for that promotion
- Trying for a child
- Waiting for your commute
- The space between your engagement and wedding
- Those years waiting for the purchased house (in Singapore terms, that means waiting for your HDB to be ready; which typically lasts for 4 years if you’re lucky).
More often than not, we all seem too eager to get out of this “in-betweener” space. Perhaps, we all should take a different view? I don’t know. I have not figured this out myself. But, when I successfully managed to cross to the other side of the road, it was because of that “perfect” moment where you find a pocket to dash, and an empty road for you to make the move. And it varies every single day. There’s no two same moments of crossing the road in exactly the same way.
Guess that’s why it is fun? It keeps life interesting?
Similarly, in all of our “in-betweener” moments, maybe it’s all about finding that right pocket and space and just move through it, so that it brings you closer to your desired end point. And that moment is short, timely, weighty, risky, but altogether satisfying when you make it to the other side.
