Flying Time
I know they say “time flies,” but lately it feels like time has no idea how to move. Time’s all confused!
For most of the past year, time has been slow. So slow! One perpetual day, going around and around, waiting for the world to open back up again. And then, as if it wasn’t confusing enough trying to learn how to behave in this newly re-opening world, time decided to fly again. No more strolling time, no more take your time, time. Fast forward, warp-speed flying time! For goodness sake, I don’t even know what day it is. Scratch that. Is it June?
Time is indeed flying. And not just the days now, I’ve suddenly realized that my people are growing up and hitting milestones. One day I was a teenager counting down days till summer break, and the next I have teenagers and am watching in awe as they tower over me and get behind the wheel (I mean seriously – I have a daughter learning to drive- inconceivable).
Fast forward. Fast forward. Where is the pause button!? After a year of looking around for the time remote to move things along, I’m now digging through the couch cushions looking for the remote to hit pause (metaphorically speaking – or maybe I’m just nutty enough this week to do that).
Does anyone else feel this strange relationship with time right now?
So, what are we going to do about this? How do we dig into a resilient mindset that doesn’t just get us through, but fills us up and creates joy in our days?
I’ve come to learn that there are a lot of ways we can build resilience and joy into our lives, but for today I wanted to share two things I think we can actively do to enjoy the ride of time shifting gears, instead of letting it churn up anxiety and leave us missing the view along the way.
Focus on being WITH each other. Practice GRATITUDE.
As things speed up it’s easy to watch and not fully engage because there’s too much coming along at the same time, too many things to get done. But I’m learning that if I look for ways to be in it all with my people rather than just moving along at the edges, keeping tasks completed, I get to experience how each day things are made anew and that fuels joy deep in my soul.
Instead of letting the weighty feeling of my girls growing up so quickly run my day, I’ve been working on seeing the bouncy step of confident, healthy girls bounding through life’s exciting milestones. What a gift that is! The laundry might not get done, and the fridge might be running low, but I’m working to be in the days enough with my family and community to see the beauty of it all.
And then there’s gratitude. Not a new idea. Just the best idea.
I’ve shared before the fear I felt when my oldest daughter was first diagnosed with an autoinflammatory disease. The fear, frankly, that continues to lurk near-by. But I’ve realized that that fear is fueled by a love I feel for those in my life that is so deep that I had to decide if it was going to throw me off-kilter or fill me with awe. That’s the gratitude piece. The daily thank you for more time. The blessing of a new day. Time might be hitting a quicker pace again, but it is a gift to us to have and hold. We have this day with each other. Love reminds me daily that time is precious at any speed.
And so, my challenge for us as we step into a changing feeling of time is that we remember it’s up to us to pick the pace. It is up to us to slow down and be truly in it with one another, seeing with grateful hearts the joy of each day we are blessed with.