It took a week of long service leave for me to realise how much time controls my daily life. The balance needs to be, well, more balanced. The relationship between time and myself has to change.
For the first time in 10 years walks on the waterfront did not replicate a maths problem. The time was not spent looking at the watch trying to calculate how much time I had to walk, what time I had to leave to get the kids, how long it would take me to get home, was dinner to complicated for the time I had? Time, Time, Time. Why do we let it control our actions to the point of obsessiveness? It felt somewhat gluttoness to sit and watch TV or meander through websites without glancing at the watch. Dinner, well, that could go on anytime really.
Along with time comes the complicatedly simple things we tend to miss when Time is the master. The bay on this particular day could have been mistaken for a well protected lake, there was not a ripple on the water. The surface looked slightly metalic as it reflected the mercury coloured clouds bordering the horizon. As I stretched, enjoying the selfishness of being able to take my time, a dolphin breached the water, follwed by another and another and another. How grateful I was to witness this play between nature. I glanced around hoping that someone else was watching the dolphins play and we could share a moment. All I saw was a group of workmen fixing a path and families having morning tea. No-one else was observing what was now at least 15 dolphins having a grand old time. As I continued to watch them frolick it made me realise what elese do we take for granted when we are time poor, poor prioritisers of time or ignorant of how lucky we are to have time?
As I prepare to head back to work tomorrow the relationship between time and myself will change. Time will be my friend.
B x
