Time: we made it up, you know? We determined how the days and weeks and months were chopped into tiny segments of seconds and minutes and then became slaves to the round, tiny face attached to our wrist (though today it’s the cell phone).
Recently when I was traveling across the Midwest, I noticed the time on my phone changed yet the time on my car remained the same – now I was in two time zones. I asked myself: “Does anybody really know what time it is?” For older folks, you can start humming now.
It seemed like only a few days ago the children raced towards summer and a few months of freedom from time. Parents could relax schedules and take a deep breath. Now time calls and it is back to school, schedules, and other things that demand their share of our time. Soon, we will see and hear the sounds that are followed by the signs of fall and the winter to come. Each day the sun sets a little earlier and the darkness creeps upon us.
In 2014, when I walked across the Midwest, time did not matter. I ate when I was hungry, found a spot to land when darkness approached, walked when the sun rose and lived with the rhythm of nature. It was profound for me, giving up my shackles to time.
Today, I find myself longing for that freedom, the ability to allow my body in tune with nature to guide me into ways of being that are in harmony with the world. Like the cry “schools out,” it seems so long ago.
I am wondering how I can regain that sense of being outside time, giving up the story of time – being totally in time with the rhythm of my life, listening to my own inner clock to inform me of time. Well friends I don’t know, only time will tell, or at least that’s what people say. For now I will simply move on, having the time of my life.