Finding Your Rhythm
If life is measured by moments, are you spending yours wisely? Let’s explore the illusion of time. There’s always plenty of it and yet never as much as we thought. At times, we find ourselves with what seems like extra time on our hands. If you simply take in that time to relax or check on loved ones, then congratulations. Have a celebratory latte, mimosa, tea, or smoothie on me…but really on you. Hey, you deserve it.
The rest of you are with me. You take the extra time you’ve discovered and stretch it to the limit, filling it with so much “productivity” that you are back where you started—out of time. Well, we tried, right? The same happens with work. We get so carried away in the monotony, the mundane, and the minutiae of daily tasks. Eventually, we end up chasing deadlines instead of staying ahead of them. We get to emails when we can and texts even later, as time-wasting habits bleed into our personal lives. Missed calls turn into way too many notifications from FaceSnapGramTok. Each notification serves as a stinging reminder of something else we neglected.
All of this begs the question I obsess over the most. In all of my striving to get things done, am I wasting my time? A trivial matter, task, or even a person can all be a waste of time. However, maybe the issue isn’t what has to be done. Perhaps it is the doer who lacks the power to do things efficiently. Maybe, just maybe, we are the drama.
We have 24 hours each day, just like plants. Did you know that plants operate by internal clocks called circadian rhythms? This 24-hour biological clock helps plants anticipate conditions for survival like access to light, minerals, water, and seasons. This built-in regulation system helps plants adapt throughout each day. For some people, procrastination, fatigue, inability to focus, hyperactivity, or numbness can be signs of dysregulation. Plants pause to identify what they need given the conditions around them. We should too. It might help us use our time better.
