Project: Spend a Day Without Time
photo by donricardopezzano
Time rules my life.
I didn’t realize until recently just how much it ruled me. Apparently on the primary colors personality wheel – I’m a purple. And purples have a thing about time. Specifically, we’re at war with it. Which is why I constantly feel the pressure of time – from the moment I hear my alarm’s buzzer to the frantic way I brush my teeth to make sure I’m in bed “on time.”
After reading Corey’s latest blog on Simple Mom about how to find more time during the day, I got angry. I got fed up with my internal time war. I shoved a white flag into the ground and decided to spend my weekend ignoring time.
Why?
I want to know what it feels like to stop worrying about “not having enough time” or “being on time” or doing things at a certain time. I want to really decide what to spend my energy on, without caring about how long it takes. And really, I just want to see what happens. Will my head explode? Will my kids turn into pumpkins?
I’ll admit it won’t be easy. For starters, I’ll have to take down or cover all the clocks in my house – all 10 of them. I’ll have to forgo using my cell phone and computer and Facebook – all things that constantly remind me of time.
Here are some other (scary) thoughts that crossed my mind:
- What about the kids’ bedtimes? I guess we’ll all just go to bed when we feel tired or cranky.
- And mealtime? We’ll eat when we feel hungry.
- And getting all the housework done? Does knowing the time make a difference?
Who knows.
But I can’t wait to find out.
What do you think? Could you spend a day without time? What do you think will happen?
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November 13th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I think this is a wonderful idea. Isn’t it funny how automatic it can be to look at the clock when someone asks you whether you are hungry or not? As though the clock gives us permission to be hungry? I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes for you. Kudos for trying!
November 13th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Thanks for the comment Daphne – I’ll let you know how it goes.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
can’t wait to hear how it went!
November 16th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I’m the exact opposite – I easily get lost in projects or reading or any number of things. I can’t even begin to count the times that I”ve stayed up til sunrise working on something, or reading a book. Typically, I just eat when I’m hungry and sleep when I’m tired on weekends.
I tried the opposite of your experiment this past weekend, and tried to be a little more conscious of my time and getting things done – it was HARD! I gave up by saturday afternoon =)
November 16th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I can’t imagine it being hard to keep track of time… Maybe I should host a time watching class.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
No, I think we need to teach each other some tricks!
Getting lost in a project or task can be very rewarding and exciting. For me, it helps me push things to a different level – with my jewelry, I’ve made decisions at 3am, being super tired, that I never would have made at 3pm being fresh and alert. Not saying that ALL those decisions were GOOD ones (the world doesn’t need a necklace with a clay hamburger pendant), but a lot of them turned out to be pretty amazing (in my book, anyway!). Sometimes creativity hops on board at the weirdest times…
January 4th, 2010 at 7:52 am
[...] idea to spend a day without time went something like [...]