It’s about Time!

You know there’s just not enough hours in the day, but I thought it’s about time I wrote something about time.  Because everyone has a relationship with time.  And as with any relationship, it could be good or bad.

Time is a tool to structure our days, weeks, and lives. Calendars, planners, and digital apps help keep track of appointments, deadlines, and events. Unfortunately, humans don’t have a personal built-in time manager.

But it got me thinking as to “what it would be like it we didn’t have to think about time?  Other than appointments, what exactly are we measuring? The time to sundown? The time until dinner? Bedtime? Our next favorite show on TV?  Is time really on our side?

Does anybody ask anyone for the time anymore… 

…because there’s simply no excuse not to know what time it is.  We have laptops, smart phones, smart watches, hell; now there’s even *smart eye glasses.

Nonetheless, I just went out to buy a wall clock.  I know… a wall clock! How many people own one? I hemmed and hawed at first, but bought one anyway. Mostly because there was an empty space on my wall where a clock once hung and I kept staring at the empty spot. My new clock fills the space with huge, black legible numbers, instead of roman numerals. What surprised me was how many clocks the store had in stock.  Regular clocks and watches seem antiquated now but I guess there’s still a market. Not many people wear watches solely for telling time nowadays. I wear a watch that I can barely read because little diamonds replace the hour markers.  I wear it not to tell the time, but as a nice jewelry piece.

Have you ever taken, or had time to stop to wonder what it would be like it we didn’t have to think about time? We could wake up when we feel like it, and not to an alarm clock. No set work schedule or punching of clocks, and no way to monitor the timing of wonderful (normally 60 minute) massages. Wouldn’t that be nice? Or would it?

Everything we do revolves around time. 

The typical person consults their clocks several dozens of times a day. We have a schedule and almost everything we do has to be done on time.  Remember when, before streaming, we had to sit down in front of a television at a set time to watch our favourite program?  Oops…think I just dated myself.

At an opera they give you a ten minute pre-show warning and if you’re not at your seat they close the doors.  You just paid big money so you better sit down.

If you’re meeting someone, out of respect you cannot (or should not) keep others waiting. There’s a grace period of let’s say 15 for me it’s 5 minutes before someone will start to get annoyed. God forbid you go over time with a lawyer or therapist.

Timing is important too.  Everything major that’s happened in my life had been due to good or bad timing.  I think that’s the case for everyone. But that’s a separate topic for another time.  I would elaborate more on this but I don’t want to be late for a very important date.

How about you? Are there areas in your life where keeping an eye on the clock has been particularly important or challenging for you? Do you feel that you wasted your time reading this post?

Sidenote on *Smart Eyeglasses: most smart eyeglasses can tell the time, displaying it on their small heads-up display, allowing you to see the current time without needing to check your phone or watch; this feature is considered one of the basic functionalities of most smart glasses.  I found this out when I asked someone for the time (yes I did) and he gave me the time without looking at any device.  Then he took a photo of me with his glasses. He then showed me the pic on his phone.  It’s so hard to keep up with technology.