March 14 , 2022 /

CHANGE TIME

I may be a day “late” for this blog but wait!  If I don’t believe in being “on time” then I can’t be “”late.”  The truth is that I may be a little obsessive about being on time as I value other people’s time and honoring a commitment that is set for a certain day and time.  On the other hand, how I spend or invest my own time is up to me.

Having just gone through another exercise of changing time zones due to the obsolete practice of shifting from standard to daylight savings time, here are a few more thoughts on the time phenomenon.  I’ve written about time previously, based on the premise that time is a construct, an invention for our convenience. There are 4 earlier blogs on time you can find here using the search function, if you want to go back.  Of course, we can’t go back in time except through memories.

I like some of the things Einstein said about time such as:

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”   That and “the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” are two of my favorites.  If you want more information about Einstein’s take on time consider this:

https://interestingengineering.com/what-einstein-meant-by-time-is-an-illusionlig

Here’s what happened last week when I traveled from Arizona to California.  At the time AZ was on Mountain Time so that when I crossed into CA, I changed the clock to an hour earlier to be in sync with Pacific Time.  While in CA, Daylight Savings Time (also an illusion) began on March 13 which meant clocks were advanced by an hour. On Monday, March 14, we crossed back into AZ which does not change clocks so we did not have to change them again because AZ does not change back and forth from standard to daylight and vice-versa.  However, what happens is that we have to change the zones, not the clocks.  Now AZ is on Pacific Time until November 6 when we shift back to Mountain Time.

When I was working full time and traveling frequently, I worked in all four time zones in the U.S and several abroad so that I had to be careful to be sure I had the right times in the appropriate zones on the calendar correctly.   It is similar now with numerous virtual meetings with a difference as much as 7- 10 hours for me. ( connecting to UK and Africa respectively). Managing all the time differences was just one more challenge, and time consuming.  Having an assistant for scheduling, bookings and travel helps “save” time.

I had a bad habit that still pops up on occasion.  When someone said, “It’s been a long day” or “I didn’t have time to get it done,” my somewhat flip response was “everyone has the same amount of time and each day has approximately 24 hours.”

Whatever choices we make is how we choose to use those moments in time and that’s how it goes every hour of every day.  There may come a day when you have more “free” time to use however you choose and not how someone else might prefer how you spend it.  That is a benefit of investing time wisely earlier and living long enough and well enough to enjoy it.

We have all sorts of devices and mental tricks to make us think we can measure, regulate and control time.  That’s an iliusion too.  We choose to use time, when to use it, and where we spend it as we invest ourselves in work, relationships, personal pursuits, entertainment and a celebration of life.  One day, time as we know it will stop.  Until then make the most of it – one hour, one day, one week, one month, one year at a time.  Look at this list of 80 idioms about how we use the phrases with the word “time.”  For now, I”m going with # 79!

https://www.dailywritingtips.com/80-idioms-with-the-word-time/

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *