I took the screenshot above of this super cool episode of NPR's "Short Wave" (linked here, so that you can listen and subscribe) on my second time hearing the show. The first time I heard it, I was out walking the dog, so I couldn't focus completely. I wanted to hear it again, and I wasn't wrong. It held up.
Here's what struck me, the way time can simultaneously seem to take forever and speed by. I remember that my mom said, at one point when my girls were little, that the moments can feel like they take years, but the years will fly by in moments. It's so true, all the time, but maybe especially now, when we're trying to stay in our homes more than we usually do.
I don't know about you, my loyal readers to whom I'm eternally grateful, but I've been spending more time doing brainless things. My Netflix time isn't improving my mind or body (though it does help me complete knitting projects), and the more time I spend zoning out in front of my screen, the longer each day feels. Meanwhile, here I am, months into this pandemic, and I can't believe it's already summer. How did that happen so fast?
Here's the thing I learned listening to this podcast, when I don't go out of my way to do anything interesting or different, then the days will feel endless and unremarkable, and I will look back and not feel that I've used my time wisely. However, there are approaches we can take to avoid this troubling feeling.
- We should do novel things every day.
- We should try to keep a schedule each day.
- We should ease back into regular life.
So here's the question, what's a novel thing to do today? What activities deserve to go on a daily schedule? How am I ever going to re-accustom myself to early morning classes, dress code, and less time with my family? Well, I guess I have a couple months to figure this all out. What are your plans? Please let me know in the comments.
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Last Saturday or Sunday August remarked the day had flown by. I said I thought it was because we’d been playing together instead of on screens separately. Sounds like this confirms that. Thanks for the reminder.
Yes, we can make time feel fast or slow by the choices we make. Hard part is that sometimes, we are doing all the things to make it feel slow when we think we’re doing things that will help us. Tricky!