Episode 252 : Why Time Flies and Crawls for Caregivers

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify

Episode Transcript

I have trouble wrapping my head around the construct of time. When the United States Springs forward or Falls back it takes a lot for me to adjust to the change. When I book interviews with people in a different time zones I spend way too much time making sure I’m aware of when I actually need to be in front of my computer. So when I heard on the news that scientists were considering the possibility of taking a second away from us, my brain almost exploded.

Let’s talk about the power of a second.

Apparently scientists found out that as the icebergs of our world continue to melt it is slowly slowing down the rotation of the earth so much so that in the future they may consider removing a second and adjusting time. 

I was sitting next to my husband when I heard this and we started talking it out. How does one take a second away? And if that were possible couldn’t that have happened multiple times without us even knowing it? I don’t know about you but I don’t keep track of my clocks keeping actual time. In fact most of the things I own now that tell me the time are actually controlled by what I imagine is one big world clock in a tower that controls all the clocks everywhere…I know, I know most digital clocks are set to the Atomic clock. Thank goodness this isn’t a science podcast because I went down a deep worm hole of the science of time the other day. 

Depending on how old you are, time was once arbitrary in a sense. You could have grown up in a household where the clocks were all kind of off by a second or two. Or maybe you used to always set your clock ahead 5 minutes to make sure you made it to places on time. Back when our clocks were manually set we had the power to control time, so to speak. 

Or maybe you’re like me and live with a person who always rounds up or down the time when you ask them for it so you’re always asking if “that’s really the time” anytime they give it to you. 

Time can be a constant issue for you as a caregiver. How often do we feel that time takes too long, like when you’re waiting for test results or sitting in a doctor’s waiting room. 

It can go by too fast when your loved one’s disease progresses. 

You get excited when you realize you actually have more time than you thought. You never find time for yourself and sometimes all you want is a break from time. 

Time causes us anxiety. All of us know how one sentence can change our lives. It takes less than a second to say Cancer, Alzheimer’s or terminal. In these moments it can feel like time stops, or you black out that conversation and loose that time. One word, one second can change everything for you and your loved one. 

It also take less than a second to say… 

I love you. 

Thank You. 

And…

I’m sorry

The fact that time can be both arbitrary and powerful makes it supremely complicated. We can try to control it, try to mold it, shift it, shape it to work for us. 

When I’m in the middle of teaching a yoga class and realize I’m way to far ahead with what I had planned for class and will have to Fill Time with something because I have extra time that actually brings me out of being in the moment. 

How often do we worry about the future and then realize we missed out on the present?

What I found curious while listening to the interview was the scientist seemed to be very annoyed to be on that news show to talk about this one second they may take away. At one point he actually said, this second isn’t anything people should worry about, it’s a second. What we should be talking about is why we might need to adjust time, why the earth is slowing down, we should be talking about the bigger picture. 

He was frustrated that the conversation was hyper focussed on the wrong thing. 

We do that often don’t we? Make the easier thing what we focus on. Loose sight of the bigger picture. Try not to address the root of a problem.

Focus so intently on being a caregiver that we forget to simply be a human and interact with the people we care for on a personal level. 

A second can change your life but at the same time as the scientist pointed out, it can also not be that big of a deal. 

It takes less than a second to 

Wave hello to someone

Smile at the person you love

Give them a wink. 

It takes less than a second to start something that might turn into a meaningful moment. 

Like a hug…

A laugh

A cry.

In the end… time is what we make of it, isn’t it?

We can use it to worry about things that haven’t happened yet. 

Try to make a plan to control it.

Anticipate what comes next 

What we might find is that as we try to control time or fear time we aren’t enjoying our time. We aren’t present for the small moments that really matter most. We aren’t creating memories that will stay with us till the end of time. 

We aren’t actually experiencing things by the second.

It’s hard to do. 

But it’s worth it to live the seconds you’ll never get back. 

Thanks for listening.