Yesterday I went on a rather large rant about being present in the moment. There was, however, one thing (well several things, but one thing that I’m itching to talk about) that I didn’t discuss: What about those times when you either want time to move quickly, or when time moves quicker than  you anticipated (as is the case when you procrastinate). I’d like to preface the following spiel by acknowledging that I know little about how time works, and that by writing this blog entry all I’m really trying to do is figure this stuff out for myself. It’s a strange topic after all. Why does time move quickly when we want it to move slowly, and why does time move slowly when we want it to hurry the hell up.

Now, how to begin…

“Where has the time gone?”

“This week/month/year just flew by”

I have a theory about why this is a staple phrase. Time goes by quickly, because we’re constantly putting life off. Friday comes around, and you realize “Oh, I never made that phone call,” “I never booked that appointment,” “I never got around to writing that report,” etc. Then we graduate into the more significant tasks that make years seem to fly by. Things like: “I never did get started on that book I was going to write,” “I was going to start a diet and exercise program, but time just passed so quickly and I never got around to it,” “as a child my dream was to become a(n) _________, but life just got in the way.” Time goes by quickly for so many people, because they spend so much of their time either waiting, or avoiding something (mainly life).

We wait for the weekend, for the perfect time to begin (an assignment, cooking dinner, exercising), for something we’ve been anticipating to start (work, a show, the first day of school, a vacation, for the job that we don’t enjoy to end), and we wait for the clock to hit quarter to, quarter after, half past, or to be on the hour (or at least I do, because I’m anal like that).

We avoid what’s uncomfortable or scary (really going for our dreams, quitting the job that we hate, getting out of that toxic relationship, making that undesirable phone-call, confronting that person, finally creating that budget, taking the first step towards a desirable goal, acknowledging a paradigm that is holding us back, adding/incorporating that something (sun salutation, flossing, exercise, 8 glasses of water a day) that would greatly improve our lives into our daily routine, practicing for that one hour a day so that we can master that new skill (playing guitar, learning a new language, singing, a sport)).

Imagine what you could get out of your life if you stopped waiting for and avoiding everything. I mean seriously!!! Can you imagine how much more time you’d have in the day if you stopped putting things off. When I got home from work yesterday, I planned to go for a run. I was feeling hungry though, so I made myself a healthy snack. Naturally, I then had to wait for the food to digest before I exercised. I read as I waited, and then I got tired… so I decided to have a short nap. 1 ½ hours later I rolled out of bed, and 2 ½ hours after getting home I finally went for that run. Of course, I might not have gone for a run at all after putting it off for so long… but somehow I found the will power to put on those sneakers (it’s so much more difficult to start something if you’ve been avoiding it for a long time – it makes you feel like there is a reason you were avoiding it, and the task immediately becomes undesirable).

Now, what would have happened if I eliminated the word “wait/waiting” from my vocabulary? Had I simply lived moment to moment, I probably would not have gotten tired (something that probably happened because my mind went into waiting mode instead of living mode – waiting isn’t living by the way).

So in conclusion to this very long blog post: Change your attitude towards time. Try loving time. Don’t dwell on how long a task is going to take, or how many hours there are left in your shift at work (today I worked a 10 hour shift at work, and I enjoyed it. I just had fun being in the present moment). This sounds terrible, but don’t get excited (but also don’t get nervous) about an event coming up in the future. Love and appreciate every moment in time, and realize that one moment is not more important than another.

How do you make the most of your time on earth? Don’t give time control over you. Do what you love, and do it every day.

Also, happy Canada Day!