--- title: "2 Day by day Quotes By Shauna Niequist" description: "2 Day by day quotes by Shauna Niequist. Plus more from Shauna Niequist and more Day by day sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a72/shauna-niequist-3042_day-by-day_i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-w_81361.jpg" --- > [“I have always, essentially, been waiting. Waiting to become something else, waiting to be that person I always thought I was on the verge of becoming, waiting for that life I thought I would have. In my head, I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-waiting-to-become-something/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a72/shauna-niequist-3042_day-by-day_i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-w_81361.jpg) > [“I have always, essentially, been waiting. Waiting to become something else, waiting to be that person I always thought I was on the verge of becoming, waiting for that life I thought I would have. In my head, I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-waiting-to-become-something-2/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/246/shauna-niequist-3042_american-idol_i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-w_2996243.jpg) ## Other authors on Day by day - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-ritu-ghatourey-5.jpg) Ritu Ghatourey 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-by-day/ritu-ghatourey/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-heraclitus-41761.jpg) Heraclitus 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-by-day/heraclitus/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-george-orwell-37887.jpg) George Orwell 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-by-day/george-orwell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-henry-david-thoreau-41473.jpg) Henry David Thoreau 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-by-day/henry-david-thoreau/) ## More by Shauna Niequist > [...what I can do is offer myself, wholehearted and present, to walk with the people I love through the fear and the mess. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/what-i-can-do-is-offer-myself-wholehearted-and-present-to-walk-with/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“We decide where the time goes. There's so much freedom in that, and so much responsibility.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/we-decide-where-the-time-goes-there-s-so-much-freedom-in-that-and-so/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“To all the secret writers, late-night painters, would-be singers, lapsed and scared artists of every stripe, dig out your paintbrush, or your flute, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/to-all-the-secret-writers-late-night-painters-would-be-singers-lapsed/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“When things fall apart, the broken pieces allow all sorts of things to enter, and one of them is the presence of God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/when-things-fall-apart-the-broken-pieces-allow-all-sorts-of-things-to/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“The world is alive, blinking and clicking, winking at us slyly, inviting us to get up and dance to the music that’s been playing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/the-world-is-alive-blinking-and-clicking-winking-at-us-slyly-inviting/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“I have always, essentially, been waiting. Waiting to become something else, waiting to be that person I always thought I was on the verge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-waiting-to-become-something/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“I am still surprised on a regular basis at the love I feel for the spirit of God, the deep respect and emotion that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/i-am-still-surprised-on-a-regular-basis-at-the-love-i-feel-for-the/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“...now that I am a mother, I understand what Mother's Day is about: it's about looking through our lives and recognizing the act of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/now-that-i-am-a-mother-i-understand-what-mother-s-day-is-about-it-s/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“We have, each one of us, been entrusted with one life, made up of days and hours and minutes. We're spending them according to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/we-have-each-one-of-us-been-entrusted-with-one-life-made-up-of-days/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“Years ago, Aaron and I were talking with the pastor of a fast-growing church, and another friend, a more seasoned pastor. The first pastor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/years-ago-aaron-and-i-were-talking-with-the-pastor-of-a-fast-growing/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“I believe deeply that God does his best work in our lives during times of great heartbreak and loss, and I believe that much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/i-believe-deeply-that-god-does-his-best-work-in-our-lives-during/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“one of the chief aspects of mothering is prayer,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/one-of-the-chief-aspects-of-mothering-is-prayer/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“Our friend Ian, an Episcopal priest, taught us something I’d never heard, something that shaped all of us: on a rainy night, with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/our-friend-ian-an-episcopal-priest-taught-us-something-i-d-never/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“When you haven’t yet had your heart really broken, the gospel isn’t about death and rebirth. It’s about life and more life. It’s about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/when-you-haven-t-yet-had-your-heart-really-broken-the-gospel-isn-t/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“Present over perfect living is real over image, connecting over comparing, meaning over mania, depth over artifice. Present over perfect living is the risky…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/present-over-perfect-living-is-real-over-image-connecting-over/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-by-day/shauna-niequist/#itemlist", "name": "2 Day by day Quotes By Shauna Niequist", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I have always, essentially, been waiting. Waiting to become something else, waiting to be that person I always thought I was on the verge of becoming, waiting for that life I thought I would have. In my head, I was always one step away. In high school, I was biding my time until I could become the college version of myself, the one my mind could see so clearly. In college, the post-college “adult” person was always looming in front of me, smarter, stronger, more organized. Then the married person, then the person I’d become when we have kids. For twenty years, literally, I have waited to become the thin version of myself, because that’s when life will really begin. And through all that waiting, here I am. My life is passing, day by day, and I am waiting for it to start. 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My life is passing, day by day, and I am waiting for it to start. I am waiting for that time, that person, that event when my life will finally begin. I love movies about “The Big Moment” – the game or the performance or the wedding day or the record deal, the stories that split time with that key event, and everything is reframed, before it and after it, because it has changed everything. I have always wanted this movie-worthy event, something that will change everything and grab me out of this waiting game into the whirlwind in front of me. I cry and cry at these movies, because I am still waiting for my own big moment. I had visions of life as an adventure, a thing to be celebrated and experienced, but all I was doing was going to work and coming home, and that wasn’t what it looked like in the movies. John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” For me, life is what was happening while I was busy waiting for my big moment. I was ready for it and believed that the rest of my life would fade into the background, and that my big moment would carry me through life like a lifeboat. The Big Moment, unfortunately, is an urban myth. Some people have them, in a sense, when they win the Heisman or become the next American Idol. But even that football player or that singer is living a life made up of more than that one moment. Life is a collection of a million, billion moments, tiny little moments and choices, like a handful of luminous, glowing pearl. It takes so much time, and so much work, and those beads and moments are so small, and so much less fabulous and dramatic than the movies. But this is what I’m finding, in glimpses and flashes: this is it. This is it, in the best possible way. That thing I’m waiting for, that adventure, that move-score-worthy experience unfolding gracefully. This is it. Normal, daily life ticking by on our streets and sidewalks, in our houses and apartments, in our beds and at our dinner tables, in our dreams and prayers and fights and secrets – this pedestrian life is the most precious thing any of use will ever experience.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Shauna Niequist" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-waiting-to-become-something-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/246/shauna-niequist-3042_american-idol_i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-w_2996243.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/246/shauna-niequist-3042_american-idol_i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-w_2996243.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/246/shauna-niequist-3042_american-idol_i-have-always-essentially-been-waiting-w_2996243.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I have always, essentially, been waiting. 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