Time is an abstract force. True, biologically we are undeniably moving forward, going somewhere, growing and aging and dying. Biologically we obviously live in time’s grip. Yet our perception of time is elastic.
Different people may perceive time differently. But even for one person, time perception varies. It’s practically a cliché, but don’t the good times fly by too fast and the bad or boring times too slowly? This is the time perception issue that really snags me. Any job I’ve ever had (usually, I must admit, in the service industry with a low hourly wage), I’m watching the clock like any other worker out there. I’m thinking, “ok, two and a half hours left, I hope that passes quickly.” I’m willing the time to rush by, begging it to. Yeah, fine, I’m at work; don’t we all do this? But when I’m home or off work - say I have two and a half hours before work or before I have to go to bed – I want that time to pass as slowly as possible. Wishing the time to speed at this point would be an anathema.
Sometimes when I’m at work wanting time to sprint by I get a superstitious feeling like this is wrong: if I wish time to quicken when I’m at work, might that make it go more quickly when I’m not at work? This might be silly or, given the interpretive, changeable nature of time, maybe it’s a reasonable concern. So how do I reconcile this? TIME is so sacred, mysterious and precious. It seems wrong to want it to move faster. But it’s pretty hard to envision being at work and hoping time would move more slowly. How to reconcile this difference in desired time perception?
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