Janathon continues as the first month of 2014 draws to a close.

Can you believe it has been four weeks since New Years? In some ways it seems like it was just last week, how could a month have passed so quickly? In other ways it seems like a lifetime ago with New Year’s Eve a faint memory.

On a daily basis our time is flying by.

There are days at work when the day seems compressed into a few hours. These are days of intense focus: “flow”. Not that any moment of life should be carelessly discarded as if moments were never-ending, but…

The problem is that time always seems to fly.

When we were kids it felt like summer vacation went on for years. All of those endless days of doing nothing and anything. No responsibilities to anchor us in time or day. When it got dark or Mom called, it was time to go home.

As we grew older the markers of time became more important. Time to get up, time to go to school. Our minds bent to planning future events like getting prepared for exams and making sure our homework was done. There were expectations.

As teens we started planning for further off life events such as graduation and college. Planning activities that required greater attention to schedules and time markers.

As adults with busy schedules we try to plan out everything. We have so much to do, we must be organized. But most of us know that plans are a weak defense against chaos and randomness. The unexpected is to be assumed.

With jobs, spouses, children, children’s activities and our own activities. Our lives become busier and busier. This requires us to pay more attention to the markers of time. The more we try to pack into a day the more focused we become on the markers of time.

The things we focus on we tend to notice.

Slow the tide of time

Like many people, I have taken steps to simplify and cut things out. The busier I am, the faster time flies. At work this is a good thing, but not on the weekends, vacation or holiday. These are the times in my life that I live for. They should be savored, enjoyed and appreciated.

This is not an advice article, so I wont go into what I have done or plan to do to make my life simpler. Even with the changes my free time still seems to fly out the window.

What have we become?

As children we had few concerns for time. Adults told us when it was time to do just about everything. We were obliviously afloat in an ocean of time. As adults we become hyper vigilant of our schedule. I don’t think the issue is scheduling every minute, but trying to pack too much into time that could be better spent. Time is life and unpacking our lives means that we can live better lives.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say.

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
Its good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.

– Pink Floyd –

Live my friends. Unpack and live.