Does anybody really know what time it is…?

Back when I was in my corporate life I realized one day how often I looked at my watch without actually needing to know what time it was. This was back in the days where a watch was just a watch. There was nothing else to check when looking at it, other than the time.

So, one day, I decided to stop wearing it.

The first few days were a challenge - I would look down at my wrist and remember, oh right, no watch. This went on for maybe about a week until my brain finally realized it was time to stop obsessively checking the time. I was still on time for work, wasn’t late to my appointments - in fact, life went on pretty much like normal, except for the time check twitch.

Fast forward about 25 years. The other day I realized - I had, once again, mindlessly fallen into the behavior of always noting the time when I passed by the stove. It was not for any particular reason. I found my internal dialog going something like, “What time is it? Oh man, it’s already ___? I should have…” There were variations, but it was always a feeling of being behind, not getting enough done, not having enough time - as though time were a resource that we could store up and use later.

So, I did it what I had done 25 years before. Only this time, since I couldn’t really get rid of the stove, I did the next best thing - I set a random time on it. Now, every time I glance at the time and realize, oh wait, that’s not actually the time, it is a reminder for me. A reminder to not get caught up in the mindless hamster wheel of what time is it and have I gotten enough done, what do I still have to do, etc.

It has been about a week now since my ‘time change’ and I have to say, I know this might sound a bit crazy, but it has made such a difference. I just wish I had become aware of it sooner.

What is your relationship like with time? Is it something that you’ve thought about? Do you feel like you never have enough? Do you feel guilty ‘wasting’ it? Are you able to simply enjoy it?