Everyone’s been noticing the time. It’s flying. I don’t know if it’s a cosmic thing or because we’re all older now. The ratio of my 37 years to a day is obviously much vaster than the Monkey’s 7 years to a day — so, as some have theorized, a day for me is much shorter than it is for my kids.
But there are other factors too. Because of our iPhones and Twitter, Facebook, endless emails, so much entertainment and information, we’re never bored. Time flies when you’re having fun, right? And there’s never a dull moment with so much activity at our fingertips.
When I look around at the parents at camp pickup, and when I take a look at myself as I usher the kids from camp, to the grocery store, home, dinner, bath, bed, we’re always rushing. “Jack, let’s go! We’re going to be late!” “Hurry up, Ella! You can play with that in the car.” “Why are you so slow, Monkey?”
No wonder time’s going so fast.
I don’t want it to go this fast….
So I’ve been watching my kids lately, taking their lead when it comes to time. I’ve been waiting a little more patiently, breathing and observing as my son picks his favourite rock out of a pile on our way to camp. I’ve been letting him take his sweet time climbing onto his massive car seat (he’s not 40 pounds yet, and I’m in no rush…) and proudly fumbling with the seat belt. And I’m consciously being more patient when my kids don’t respond right away — because they’re simply in a different time zone than I am.
And with this realization that there is another time zone — there is more time — I’m losing some of my urgency. Trying to. There’s no need to lose weight tomorrow, or live the perfect lifestyle (us Virgos crave) right now, because life is a process. It’s not a finished product — not until we die, anyway. And it’s so fast-paced these days that so much simply has to be left unfinished. My work will never be done, the 1,068 emails sitting in my inbox will never be fully answered (even read), the house will never be clean, this post will never be perfectly finished. And I won’t ever feel rested. Not at the impossible pace I try to keep.
As my yoga teacher once told me when I was trying to accomplish a difficult pose, “We’ve got time.” We do.
Everything is endless, a process, ongoing, fluctuation. So I’m letting things be, still trying my best, and learning from my kids to watch, not wait, but stop.
Love…
xo Haley-O
Chantal said, August 16th, 2012 at 4:28 pm
It is so so true. I have to remind myself of that often. Sometimes I remember, sometimes I don’t. But I try not to beat myself up too much. Hey can you do me a favour and drop by my latest post. I would appreciate your input.
Rebecca said, August 17th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
LOVE this one, Haley. I sometimes hear myself and the constant nagging and rushing and I hate it.
Teena in Toronto said, August 22nd, 2012 at 3:07 pm
It’s too bad we can’t all slow things down just a bit.
Karen MEG said, September 3rd, 2012 at 1:46 pm
We just spent a week in PEI on vacay, I popped back into the office for 2 days this past week and was soooo chill before hopping onto another plane over to Europe for a 2 day meeting for work. Any other time I would have been so stressed. But the vibe from the East coast, where time went slowly, we had time to enjoy each other’s company, I was much more pleasant to the husband and the kids …it all carried over. I agree with you 150% Haley – we have to stop. And when we take the time to stop, things always get better. I just need to keep reminding myself of that.