Intentionality

Where Does the Time Go?

allisonavoss

My alarm goes off. I roll over in bed and brush away my long hair out of my face. I peer down to pick up my phone from the floor to turn the alarm off. What time is it? What am I doing today? I wonder sleepily, as I start to adjust my eyes to the morning light.

I begin to get up, with the excitement of a new day as my motivation for crawling out from under the covers. I want to finish the book I’m reading, I want to write a new blog post, I want to go for a run, I want to read what’s happening in the world. And the best part is that there is nothing I have to do today. No job, no work, no errands, no phone calls, no organized social activities. Nothing. My time is 100% mine.

But, what is time? I have stopped remembering the days. I don’t recall if it’s Monday or Saturday, if it’s 7am or 11am, if it’s April or June. I feel like a hamster who has jumped off the wheel, watching everyone else run through their lives, as if racing to some finish line. But somehow, I can’t help but feel that my wheel keeps churning, just as fast, even when I don’t think I’m on it anymore.

Doing all the things I love to do, the time escapes me. Everyday never seems long enough. A month here, a month there, and before the time even starts, it’s over. Time feels just as ephemeral as our short lives.

Stop counting the minutes, the days, the years. Realize that time does not truly exist linearly as we see it, it only can give relativity to our lives – what is past, present, and future. Choose love and happiness, feel the power of your life around you, and free yourself from the self-made constraints of time.

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Here are two articles I love about time. Hope you enjoy them!

  1. How Different Cultures Understand Time
  2. The Illusion of Time

7 thoughts on “Where Does the Time Go?”

  1. I was ” too busy” and had to rush off to work to read the articles until just now.( haha) I find all this way too heavy for me. I love my life when it is full- that may mean I am on the hamster wheel, but the relationships I have with my co-workers and patients enrich my life and I do not feel that my work which makes me very busy is a negative. At least not for me. I amnot being defensive just pointing out that all busy people are not fulfilled. It boils down to relationships to me- with your family, your friends, yourself and your God. I may look at my life too simply or maybe I am not thoughtful enough. So off to walk the doggies for DWS and a glass of wine and arugula pizza. Must be Friday night!

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  2. Hi Allie. I think that time is a luxury. For some there isn’t enough time in a day to find water or food for themselves or their families. I agree it is wonderful to be able to do your own thing, when you want to if you have the means to take care of everyday necessities. Rather like being retired.

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    1. I was thinking about how different “time” felt when we were in Kenya the summer of 2006. We had such a simple life there yet we’re still working and helping others. I loved coming home to Andrew hanging upside down from a branch of an avacado tree and you and Katie playing in the treehouse or running thru the hung laundry. I do think that was a time of rejuvenation for me. To see the beauty of a new culture and to see a different way of looking at time. Kenyans never judged their day by what they got done. It was refreshing.

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      1. Hi Mom! I remember how time felt there in Tenwek too and every where I go I try and understand how cultures think about time. As Americans, we have become so accustomed to associating “busy” with being important, or even, good at something so you do it more. When someone asks, “How are you?” in the US, and you response, “Sooo busy.” It is said as if it’s good, as we start rattling off all the things we are doing. I think as an American society, we should try not to be so “busy”, but slow down and think about what it is we are doing that is important and what’s not. There shouldn’t be so much of a rush in life to do things – activities, errands, jobs. We should learn to feel and fill our time more deliberately and take things from other cultures, so that we might feel more fulfilled with our time.

        I like that you say you like for your life to be “full” and not “busy”, because that makes me feel like you recognize how you fill your time. If your hours are filled with the people you love, doing the things you love to do, then I think time takes its course in the best way. 🙂

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    2. Hi Nons! I completely agree time is the ultimate luxury. We can never have enough of it. I am lucky to have the means financially to be more free with my time, which I know is not the case for most of society. I am not blind to see that while people are working, I am gallivanting around the world. I am grateful to feel that sense of retirement and slowness of life at my age.

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      1. It will be interesting to see how you fare when you hit the Big Apple……………….180 degrees from your idyll in South America. When will Santiago start his classes, and when might you be going to NYC to find housing, how long will you be in New York??? too many questions???? You know your Nons!!!XOO

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      2. NYC will be quite a change! But I’m excited to see how I feel going back to such a fast pace of life, after knowing how life can be lived like this in South America. Maybe it will make me more relaxed, even in a city that doesn’t seem to sleep…only time will tell.

        I will be moving to NYC around the end of July and will probably have to wait until I get there to find an apartment, because I think they are quickly swiped up. Going to be 2 years in NYC!

        xoxo to my loving Nons

        PS you can always send me an email with all your questions or we can skype soon too 🙂

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