Living in Real Time

Do you tend to set your watch or clocks ahead? I mean, outside of daylight savings time? I do. It’s crazy. My alarm clock is 10 to 11 minutes fast, my watch is 5 to 7 minutes fast, the car clocks are about 7 minutes ahead. It hit me one day how out of control the time thing was getting when I couldn’t figure out what time it really was: “Should I add three minutes, or is it six or seven?”

I couldn’t remember how fast the timepiece I was looking at was set. That’s when I realized I’d been living on borrowed time, quite literally. So I had to get to the root of the situation. And the question to myself was “why do we set all of our clocks fast?” The answer was simple: So that we can be on time, even ahead by a few minutes, when we’re rushing and not paying attention. And therein lay the real answer to my quandary. I shouldn’t be rushing through my days, through life. It would be so much better to live in real rather than borrowed time, I thought. But where to begin?

The starting point for me would have to be learning to say no. You’d think as a new mom—I have an 8-month old—I’d have learned by now, but no. Well, I’m happy to say I have done it, just once. I said no to an assignment to write a press release for someone. I’ll admit, the guilt outweighed the satisfaction with time saved at first, but I appreciated it later. That doesn’t mean I slowed down, though. I still teach, freelance and work on my new business, but I make sure to prioritize. And my priority is family first, then everything else. I’m sure my husband and son will appreciate it. They’re definitely worth my time, my real time.