This weekend some of us set our clocks back and hour, theoretically regaining the hour we lost last spring. It’s the spring-ahead/fall behind herky-jerky phenom we never quite get used to. Either way, the rhythms of our lives are temporarily interrupted until we catch up days or weeks later. I wrote about this change more than two years ago, describing a world turned upside down.
Author friend Janet Givens explored daylight savings time more than 6 years ago in a post entitled DST Yay or Nay? Recently, she posted the link to another compelling argument.
Time seemed to fly in the months/weeks/days leading up to my book launch.I asked myself, “Did I already put on my deodorant today – or was that yesterday?
Poets are fond of exploring the idea of time.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Biography.com
Longfellow in Voices of the Night alluded to the Hippocratic oath when he proclaimed: Art is long and time is fleeting, suggesting that we (writers, doctors, artists) never live long enough to perfect our craft.
Robert Herrick recommends gathering rosebuds while there’s time: To the Virgins: To Make Much of Time: “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today/Tomorrow will be dying.”
Ursula LeGuin wrote a Hymn to Time, which you can find here.
Elizabeth Berg, Penguin Random House image
In the Pull of the Moon, novelist Elizabeth Berg’s main character, Nan, who once chose to put her family’s needs always above her own, begins asserting herself, imagining a room of her own and time to enjoy it. She expresses herself this way:
“I want a little room only for me. Stuffed full of what I love. A ticking clock, too, the smooth measure of time that is not hysterical or guilty or full of longing, that offers no judgment of anything, that just says, here, here, here, in slow, sounded seconds. Here. Here. Here.” (83)
You can find my review of her book on Goodreads.
Bad News & Good News!
The bad news: Time Flies. The good news: You’re the pilot.” ~ Mark Lachs, author of Treat Me, Not My Age
Your Turn!
When has time flown for you? Or slowed down?
Do you really believe that “Time flies and you’re the pilot,” as Mark Lachs proposes?
Thyme
Coming next: Playing Word Games with Jill and Marian
Good morning, Marian! You know that I love to explore time. 🙂
You, like I am, are fascinated with time. In fact, here’s a link to your post from yesterday for other readers: a quadrille (poem of 44 words) on timekeepers: https://merrildsmith.wordpress.com/2019/11/05/timekeepers/
Brava!
Thank you, Marian!
I absolutely believe that time does fly. For me, each year seems to go faster than the previous one. It especially flies when you’re on a deadline! Thankfully, yes, I am the pilot. When I was a child, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed like an eternity. Looking forward to your visit, Marian!
You are a “high performance” author as writing coach/author Nina Amir is fond of saying. Yes, I’m ready for our duo next Wednesday. I appreciate you hosting my visit, Jill. Thanks!
Time flies when we’re busy doing things we love, so I guess a fast life is a good one.
I like that positive take on time, and I believe it applies to you, Arlene. Thanks!
Hi Marian. How fun to see my name and link to my blog pop up here. Thank you. Fascinating topic. Time is such an interesting cultural icon here. One of the lessons I learned in Kazakhstan is that not every culture is a slave to time, as we are. Only here do I hear people say, “Oh, look at the time! I must run.” In many other cultures, time adapts to the needs of people instead. Fascinating. Did you see that in Ukraine?
Yes, people in Ukraine do generally run on a time frame different from the American who hosted us. She was trying to keep everyone running on time, which was important because then Cliff gave school performances, so we had to bend to the schedule of that particular school. Overall though, the people we met didn’t seem as hurried (or frazzled) as Americans often are.
A family in our “freindschaft” is a little on the slow side, so sometimes a host/hostess will report the time for the meal as an hour earlier, to ensure that they’ll show up on time. It works . . . usually!
I’m trying to break the habit of being a slave to time. If it’s learned behavior, I suppose it can be “unlearned,” to an extent. Thanks for your timely thoughts, Janet.
We went through that annoying time adjusting process a couple of weeks ago and I really dislike the fact that it’s already dark at 5 pm and we will get even shorter days as winter progresses. 😩
As for the swiftness of time, it is one of the first concepts we learnt as Literature students in our early teens: ‘Carpe Diem’ or ‘Seize the Day’. I still remember the lines of a Latin poem being ‘Collige, virgo , rosas…’ from Roman times. Isn’t it amazing that 2000 years on, we’re still wondering about the same thing!
Fatima, the governor in our state is trying to get a bill passed to move toward keeping the time standard; that is, not making a change twice a year. I’m not sure if it’s only a state or a federal initiative. I don’t think the whole world changes clocks this time of year – and again in the spring.
Seize the Day is a good maxim, when it comes to taking advantage of a benefit, but I guess it doesn’t make sense to break your neck will doing it – ha!
I believe the EU was considering keeping the summer time too and it can’t come too soon for me.
As for Carpe Diem, it’s all about making the most of your youth and the present time, as we never know what’s round the corner or if we’ll be here tomorrow. After my husband’s cancer scare and treatment, I’m more convinced than ever that that maxim is absolutely right!
Time can be my enemy at times and at other times my friend. I like the concept that we are the pilot of our time as I truly believe that. One thing I have learned is that time spent with family and friends is never wasted.
Yes, we can control our time – to an extent – but then the unexpected happens. Still, it’s good to start with some goals in mind.
And, yes indeed, time with family and friends is never wasted. Last evening we attended a middle school band concert, where grandson Ian was performing. He hasn’t played the tuba for very long, and the pieces played were short and simple. Still, it was a wonderful experience to see all the musicians developing their skills so early in the year. Thanks for your thoughts, Darlene!
Time…My father always said time and the tide wait for no man…Time here means very little… Thais don’t live by the clock….When waiting for something or someone to turn up they are invaribly late here…we always say Oh well it’s Thai time…But I agree , Marian the years just fly by as do the weeks and months…I enjoyed the read, Thank you 🙂 x
Thanks for reading and commenting, Carol. I am sure that one thing you like about Thailand is the relaxed culture. It must have taken some getting used to at first though.
It still does, Marian… paricularly when they don’t turn up that day at all and wander in the next….you have to love it!
😀
Marian, this year seems to have flown by. Seems like only yesterday we were lamenting the Polar Vortex’s arrival in my area. And now we’re back in winter! Last week flew by. And this week seems to be doing the same.
I remember desperately wanting to be 18. The seemed like a grown-up age. Time has flown by since then!
The magic year for me was 16, but then you and I grew up, and now time flies. Are we having fun – or just trying to keep up? I guess that’s the “rub,” L. Marie. Ha!
Thanks for your reflection here.
Marian — Right now I measure the passing of time by watching my 13-month-old granddaughter, Luna, grow, learn, and mature at the speed of light! Time—it’s astounding how fast it whips by!
Yes, childhood is fleeting, Laurie. Lovely Luna is growing by leaps and bounds. Still, it is both magical and calming to be around children, in m view. Their sense of wonder is calming and meditative. I wonder if you feel the same.
Marian — I do, indeed, feel the same.
Last week was a double whammy for my internal clock. Actually worse than that: a colonoscopy kept me awake. Then next day a flight to a different time zone. Then a whirlwind of events and conversation. Then 4 a.m. alarm for a 5:50 flight. Then home. Then time change again. Phew. Tempus Fugit.
It usually takes almost week to get back on track when our daily rhythms are changed as dramatically as yours was. By now I hope you are feeling a little “caught up.”
This morning I waited in line at the pharmacy for a shingles shot. The couple ahead of us was having difficulties, so I spoke to a pleasant woman behind me. It turns out she works in an emergency room, where everyone believes her case is most urgent and insists on being seen “right away”! After 5 minutes or so, we agreed that patience is a virtue for all who wait. I noticed too that she was very pregnant, waiting months for her “blessed event.”
Hi, Marian! I (Of course!) appreciated your literary references. I’m going through another major transition in my schedule—the way I think of and manage time, so this is timely. Once again we’re thinking similar thoughts.
I’m not sure I agree with the statement “Time flies and you’re the pilot,” because it falls short of my experience of time, which is like a quantum view of light (particle AND wave). The ancient Greeks believed there is the chronology of time (Kronos), it’s tick-tick linear-sequential, and quantitative aspect. But there is also the atmosphere of time (Kairos), like a weather pattern, in which there is a time to plant and a time to harvest, it’s a swirling, circular-Labyrinthine, and qualitative aspect.
The notion that I have any control over time—that I can pilot it—doesn’t ring true for me. It would be more accurate to say I am the pilot of a plane, and I can fly my plane through time (atmosphere, weather) to get where I’m going, or I can ground my plane and be immersed in time. And there is a time for each of those ways of experiencing time. Preferably both ways are a part of every day, which, for me, makes a day feel full of time.
Tracy, I saw the title quote in a Readers’ Digest magazine recently. The line caught my eye, but as I thought about it, I began to consider that control is often an illusion. We may set goals with a schedule in mind, but then “life” intervenes. Sometimes the interruptions are divine appointments, I have to believe.
I like your take on time, which I believe has merit. A verse in my Bible I keep referring to comes from Psalm 31:15, “My times are in thy hand.”
“Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping… into the future.” The Steve Miller Band sang those lyrics forty years ago. Which seems only like yesterday, when I was young. 😂
I remember when I first got a taste of how fast time flies. I was six years old and my tired mother had sent me to bed for a nap. I did not want to take a nap. My birthday was coming up soon. To amuse myself, I began counting, aloud, how many years I had lived so far.
“First I was 1 and then I was 2, then I was 3 and then I was 4, then I was 5 and now I am 6, soon I’ll be 7 and then I’ll be 8. Next I’ll be 9 and then I’ll be 10, then I’ll be 11 and then I’ll be 12, then I’ll be 13, then I’ll be 14, then I’ll be 15, then I’ll be 16, then I’ll be 17, then 18, then 19, then 20 — wow!” (Do you see why my poor mother was tired?)
My parents were only in their twenties then, and my grandparents were in their forties. I kept counting up the years, one after other, until I was saying: “And then I’ll be 60, then I’ll be 61, then I’ll be 62, then 63, 64, 65, 66…” Suddenly, I stopped counting. People in their sixties are OLD, I thought with alarm, and it had taken me almost no time to count that high. Did this mean I would soon be old?
Last July, as I was running down a hill with my energetic great-grandson, I asked him “How old are you now?”
“I’m six,” he replied.
“I’m sixty-six,” I said.
“Wow!” he said.
“Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping… into the future!”
Your comment almost slipped by me – I say “almost.” And your counting story is very entertaining. You showed your imagination from very early days.
Linda Lee, I like to think that you and I ageless. We certainly don’t consider ourselves “old,” at least not in spirit. Right? Thanks for the cute anecdote and encouragement!
When I was asked my age recently by a new intern at my doctor’s office, I said “I’m 66 going on 12.” Because that’s the truth. So yes, I agree, you and I are ageless. 😀
It’s NOVEMBER already, where did April go? Golly it moves so fast these days, or is it that as I age, this seems to be so? Tempus Fugit … I cannot imagine clocks being turned backwards or forwards … though here in SA it would make sense to make use of Daylight Saving Time. It’s going on 7.00 p.m. where I am, and dawn put in a really early appearance this morning. Great post Marian thanks 🙂
I meant to say it’s going on 7.00 p.m. here and it’s still light 🙂
In the northern hemisphere we, of course, have the opposite effect. It’s half dark around 5:30 and completely dark about 6:30 pm. This all changes after December 22. Maybe the shorter (or longer) days give us the illusion that time is longer with more light or shorter (with less.)
I guess it’s no pleasing us humans where time is concerned, Susan. As though we could change it – ha!
Loved the little touch of “thyme” at the end, Marian! Had a good chuckle at “did I already put on my deoderant or was that yesterday?” Been there, done that!
I was owing my confusion about the deodorant to the time pressure when I was launching my book. Apparently, a different phenomenon is at work here. I’m guessing in my case it’s age. So many years of putting on deodorant – ha!
So, we chuckle together, Elfrieda!
I have always been in a battle with time. There is never enough for me to do all the things I plan on doing. As I approach my 77th birthday, it’s especially apparent that it takes me longer to do all those things, but I’m making peace with it as I accept the inevitable and prefer to “be” rather than “doing” things that are often extremely unimportant.
I wonder at what age we begin to settle into a more “Que sera, sera” attitude toward time. We are both high on the ladder of our seventies.; maybe it will happen soon – ha!
Congrats on your 77th, my husband’s age.
Everyone’s comments here are so thoughtful and thought-provoking! I’d like to think I’m the pilot of my time, but the older I get, the less I find that philosophy reasonable. If I was the pilot, I’d slow down time so much more. When I was 5, I remember the days being interminably long. Now, almost 60 years later, a day flies as fast as a cardinal out my window, and it’s just as red – red for joy and passion and love and the desire to capture every single moment. But instead, moments slip through my fingers like silk.
PS – I love all of Elizabeth Berg’s books. Read The Pull of the Moon last year. Read her latest books and then someone suggested an earlier book by Berg called WE AREL ALL WELCOME HERE. Bad title but glorious book.
Yes, I agree. The comments are as interesting as the post. When you pose a puzzle or a suspenseful story on your blog, I read the comments for insight sometimes. Wise? But, of course!
On another note, I’ve read several of Elizabeth Berg’s books, though I don’t remember most except one entitled Talk Before Sleep, which I received from one of my students way back in 2003. It’s always great to hear from you. Thanks, Pam! 😉
Reading the comments of others, on other blogs, is one of the perks and pleasures of this blogging world! xo
For the most part, I believe I’m the pilot of my time…the choices I make determine how use that time. I’m reminded, however, that Einstein said there is no space and time; the notions of space and time we humans create to manage timelessness. Interesting to ponder.
Welcome, Sara! I too have been fascinated with the idea of time, especially when I read Alan Lightman’s book, Einstein’s Dreams, where he imagines different worlds as in his theory of relativity.
Thanks for adding to the conversation here. 🙂
You picked the perfect quote for this blog post, Marian. I love it! So true. We seem to often forget (I’m guilty as charged) that we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and cram way too many things (or try to, in my case) in one day. Yes, we are in charge, but we should do so after we breathe in and out a few times first. 🙂
I used to say “I don’t have any money, but plenty of time,” and it felt that way throughout my thirties. Now, even though I live an alternative lifestyle, I’m constantly stressed as well. You see, I try to do as much as “normal” people, but under way more challenging circumstances. By choice.
That “extra” hour we regained last weekend? It was easily spent with an hour extra in bed, catching up on sleep…
I just read your nice comment on my blog as well. Thank you!
Thanks, Liesbet. You are probably a Type-A personality, like me. There’s nothing wrong with that except that we have super-high expectations for ourselves and seldom give us enough credit.
So, plaudits to you for persevering with your search for the just-right literary agent.
I’m guessing taking walks with Maya (and Mark) may help relieve stress. As of me: I’ll have to practice the deep breaths I rehearsed in my new exercise class earlier today: Body Flow, with a combination Tai Chi, Pilates, and Yoga postures. 😀
Ha! Time flies for me every single day Marian. I feel as though I’m always trying to catch up as fast as I can. I totally resonate with with Longfellow’s quote. 🙂
So much of your time is spent helping others. In fact, I just commented on your recent post showcasing Sally Cronin with marketing tips that fit my needs right now. You are born to share, I guess. And we writers all benefit – THANKS! 🙂
Thanks for that lovely compliment Marian. I think my nature comes from being a Gemini born in a Mercury Retrograde. True Geminis are the sign of communication. I’m always happy to boost someone else, just how I roll. Life is a circle and I truly believe how we act to others will always come back to us. 🙂
Amen, Sista!
I have “no comment guilt” when I fail to come up with something witty and wise to say on the blogs of other people, so I’m going to excuse myself here and go off and read the current novel I’m loving (after hours of tedium getting through the beginning). That’s “being the pilot” with my time I guess. Good night and God bless!
You have a wise and clever comment here. Thanks, Melodie! 😀
Two books sit on my nightstand now: Where the Crawdads Sings & Life would be Perfect if I Live in That House. I always feel smarter when I read other people’s books.
I wonder what you are reading now. . . . Hmmmm
I’m reading The House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne. How I got through many Eng. lit courses and never read this one is beyond me. My copy is one that Stuart apparently read in high school. It’s the second one in my effort to go back and read some classics. I finished Main Street by Lewis the other week (read that in college) and have written an upcoming column about it. Look for it soon.
The books you are reading sound like ones I would enjoy.
Melodie, you are positively savoring the fruits of retirement . . . reading (and re-reading) at your leisure. I’ll look for your post!
I’ve read that time appears to go faster the older you get because you have already had so much of it… For me, time flies by when I’m doing yoga! Or am busy.
I’ve heard the same thing about time and believe it to be true.
You have yoga; I have Pilates. Apparently we both like to stay in shape, Fiona!
The busier I am, the faster time flies.
I looked you up at A Hundred Years Ago and found other interesting things. Now I finally know why chocolate icing may lose its gloss – ha! Thanks, Sheryl, for commenting here. I quite agree that the busier we are the faster time seems to fly. Do visit again!
As you know, my husband Vic was an astrophysicist and he wrote a few articles using the quote below. I miss talking to him about the nature of time.
“Time is the substance I am made of.
Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river;
it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger;
it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.”
-Jorge Luis Borges [1]
After Vic’s death in 2008, each day seemed interminably long. Looking back, it seems he died just yesterday and is still in my thoughts and prayers as much as ever. Time is so subjective.
I don’t think time matters much where love exists; you and Vic had that kind of eternal love.
Your quote from Borges carries overtones of biblical language and William Blake “Tiger, tiger, burning bright . . . ” Thanks for including this.
Vic has been gone for 11 years now. Oh, my! Amazing that it seems the time elapsed must feel both interminably long and very short. I wonder if you have read Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams, which describes time as we (sometimes) experience it, elastic – every subjective.