One–Two–Three

In this final section the author returns to pairing, the “two” of this chapter title. He hopes to show how you can understand waiting even more clearly by comparing it with emotional experiences that entail not pairs, but the single individual (the “one” of the chapter title) or a trio of individuals (the “three” of the chapter title). One emotion that are associated with “one” is boredom (though depression could be as well). The preeminent emotion associated with “three” is jealousy. The author begins with boredom, an emotion that he was convinced, before he toyed with this book, was the very same thing as waiting. It’s not. This final chapter also aims to link Holding On to the author’s two previous books, Boredom: A Lively History (2011) and Jealousy (2014). Holding On, you might say, is the final part of its own trio.