Are we there yet?
And other questions about time.
Hello friends,
Whether we care to admit it or not, we all have an obsession with time.
I remember counting the days before Christmas hoping Santa received my list and refusing to believe the rumors I heard about a “real” Santa.
How many times did you tick off the days for school to end?, By the last days of a blazing hot summer you couldn’t wait for that first day back and the friends you’d missed.
I kept a small desk calendar where I marked off each of the days before my wedding. I didn’t think time could ever move any slower.
When our stair-stepped children were young, you would have thought the hour-long drive to the beach took hours, no, days. Tired of sitting elbow to elbow in the back seat, a small voice from the back would give out a soulful moan, “Are we there yet?”
I’m curious. How many clocks do you have in your home or car? In our house, I counted ten clocks. That doesn’t include the clocks on three phones, four iPads, several watches, three computers, and four televisions.
And don’t get me started on alarms and notifications. I turn off as many of those as I can control.
Simon Garfield in Timekeepers examines “our obsession with time and our desire to measure it, control it, film it, perform it, immortalize it and make it meaningful.” I’ve added it to my “to be read” list not for any scientific research, but for his stories and anecdotes about how time influences our lives.
In a couple of weeks, the USA and other countries will roll back clocks to standard time. Many of us will spend the next days acclimating our internal clocks and groaning about the inconvenience while asking, “Who came up with this idea?”
No amount of fretting will change the fact that time passes, no matter what the clock announces as the hour and minute. We all have this moment, and hopefully the next.
As I gain years, a good thing, I have a deeper appreciation for the present moment. I no longer wish time would pass more quickly, if anything, I want it to slow down so I can savor every precious day.
In the meantime, I’m putting a notice on my calendar to set back all those clocks on November 6 at 2:00 am.
Since the pandemic, I’ve thought about how we move into an uncertain future.
Brain scientist, Matt Walker explains how daylight saving time affects our bodies, minds—and the world.
What if, you could save Time in a Bottle? And when was the last time you had The Time of Your [My] Life? Whatever you try to do, everything will Turn, Turn, Turn.
“Although we try to control it in a million different ways, the only things you can ever really do to time are enjoy it or waste it. That’s it.”
—A.J. Compton
Find a little wonder this week and enjoy a quiet moment or two.
With gratitude,
Kathryn
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That's Good, Just Do It! W/ ❤ "In absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily traivia, until we ultimately become enslaved by it. - Robert A. Heinlein,1907-1938"
I counted the clocks in my house, Kathryn. There are only seven, but that doesn't include all the devices like phones, watches, TVs etc. We're in our autumn now, and our clocks go backwards in a couple of weeks (or is it forwards? I can never remember, so I have to ask someone or google it). I like the cosiness of winter coming, but not the dark evenings if I need to go out. I'm not too keen on dark mornings, either. I love your photos, too. Big Ben looks quite splendid standing there against what looks like the evening sky. I rarely want time to rush by these days, preferring to make the most of every moment. The only exception is if I'm exhausted and can't wait for bedtime to come. Thanks for sharing this, Kathryn ... Ellie X ⏰💕