Time Waits

Today, I got to thinking about time.

Actually, I’m always thinking about time. How it goes by too fast, or how there isn’t enough of it, or how some things just take waaaaay too long.

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with time. I don’t manage it well and I suppose I waste a lot of it, too. But, there’s also not enough of it to go around…and therein lies my problem:

I (for one) need more time.

You do, too? Well, good…then, we’re all on the same page. Maybe collectively, we can do something about this.

I’ve noticed that for every year I get older, time moves at a rate of 7% faster than it did last year. It’s true….do the math.

Okay, I made it up. (I never thought you’d seriously reach for a calculator.) The truth is, time just seems to go by faster the older you get. Surely someone else has noticed this…I can’t be the only one.

So, what can we do to de-accelerate the passage of time?

When we were little, we wanted time to pass quickly:

• “I want school to be OVER.”
• “I can’t wait till I grow up! No-one'll tell me what to do when I'm OLDER.”
• “It's taking SO LONG to grow facialhair/grow breasts/stop breaking out/get my braces off/pet rocks to make a comeback."

There’s a definite pattern here.Now that I’m growing up (yes, I’m not quite done yet) I want time to slow down:

• “I’ve got to get this deadline met. What time is it?”
• “Taylor needs to be picked up at 9:00. What time is it?”
• “I've got a meeting across town at 2. Crap. WHAT TIME IS IT???”

The question that still remains is: What can we do about it?

Well, we could:

• No longer wear a watch. It’s the old tried-and-true method of denial. If I can’t see the time, it doesn't exist.
• Allow a set amount of time per chore and when time runs out, you quit. The downside to this is that I suspect this will result in kids being left back in school, people will be fired from their jobs and many houses left dark due to unpaid electric bills, as no-one ever thinks chores are going to take as long as they actually do.
• Make a conscious effort to slow down every facet of our lives, so we’ll have a chance to “appreciate every minute”. I hate to always be a downer, but all this will do is create traffic (New Yawkers can tolerate anything as long as it doesn’t block traffic). Slowing our response time will also cause our meals to burn and there will be more potty accidents from people not making it to the bathroom in time.

So. In conclusion…well, we’re basically screwed. Let’s face it, people…time waits for no-one. It might grind down to a painstaking crawl if you’re on line at the DMV, or during the school concert you have to attend, but otherwise…you’re on your own.

Maybe accepting and admitting that there’s not enough of it will somehow make it seem less frustrating when we run out of it.Or, maybe the answer’s in denying there’s even a problem…I really don’t know.

I have to go.

What time is it?