The Art of Slowing Down Time

I think a lot about a lot of things, but mostly, I think a lot about time. It is part of the business of being a writer. You feel every second in its passing, because that is where you draw inspiration from. I often find myself pondering where I was a year ago, what has happened in between then and now, and where I will be a year from now.

Time has been moving at a much faster rate since I started my job, the months speed by in a blur of deadlines and weekends that are always about 5 days shorter than I want them to be. I never feel like there is enough time in my days, like I need just two more hours to fit everything in so I can write that blog post, get a book published, call my best friend I haven’t talked to in, it’s been a month now hasn’t it?

But, time has not always felt like it has sped by this quickly. There have been moments in my life when everything felt luxuriously drawn out, like the water flowing downstream turned to honey. There’s the phase “Time flies when you’re having fun”, which is certainly true. One way to slow down time is to do things you do not enjoy, but what fun is that?

In perhaps a slightly insane way, I love moving. I have moved a lot in my short life so far. Most of these moves have been to completely new places with a new life altogether. And I love these moments so much because these moves tend to slow everything down. My theory? It is because I am experiencing new things every single day. Because of my temporary state, I am in a constant state of noticing, of observing. When you move, or when you travel, you get more of those “first day” and “last day” experiences. There is no routine, there is no normal, you are just an active participant learning your surroundings every day. Trying to soak in as much of that place as you can.

Routine is the enemy of time. Now, don’t get me wrong, routine is great, but when we have a set routine where every day is the same we put our autopilot on. We drift in our thoughts instead of our bodies, our commute becomes about planning the rest of our day, or our week, instead of being present in our surroundings. Because why would we be? It was the same as it was yesterday, and the day before that, and the month before that.

And so, I am not saying that to slow down time you need to quit your job and move across the country (although that would also do it). But I am saying that, in my experience, what slows down time the most is presence. Is noticing. Is shaking things up, taking a different way to work, going to a new coffee shop, making something new for breakfast, looking up, looking around. Being an active participant in life, and trying new things.

And so, in my humble opinion, to master the art of slowing down time, we must first master the art of noticing. In doing so we will experience life, every second that comes our way.

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Thank you folks for reading! Sending you all love and kind wishes.

-Syd