Time is An Invention
On the voyage, time began to evaporate.
Time became fluid, flowing from day to night with reckless abandon. Rather than being solid, established in stone by the ticking of a clock, it became a nebulous essence controlled by the whims of our Captain.
You see, from the moment our ship the MV World Odyssey departed from the shores of Ensenada, Mexico we crossed a new time zone almost every other day. As a result, I would go to bed at 10pm, sleep for eight hours and wake up at 5am. This would happen every two days. I was updating my watch so often I often forgot which time was real and which was fake. Our whole ship relied on the Captain to announce our official time over loudspeakers. This all culminated with us crossing the international date line along the Pacific Ocean and "skipping" an entire day of our lives. One precious day that technically I'll never get back.
The feeling of having time shift like quicksand beneath me was both uncanny and unsettling. However, it provided a freedom I never though possible. I was no longer enslaved by the typical dictates of time. Each hour and minute did not need to be structured and squeezed into a day, but instead flowed from one day to the next seamlessly. This does not mean that I was unproductive. Instead I was unworried about wasting seconds. Excess stress saps the meaning from every second. So by being stress-free, I was more productive and more appreciative of each breath during that short time than any other in my life. Each experience shaped the next and I simply followed my internal rhythms, making most of the sunlight while marveling at the moon at midnight.
It felt like we were sailing the world on a floating island, a cocoon shelter, detached from the worries of the mainland and living in our own alternate reality, our own alternate timeline. All that mattered were actions and interactions, experiences and memories - momentous moments - regardless of when they were formed. Thriving in that mental state was pure bliss. As a result, slowly, an idea began to dawn on me.
It began to dawn on me that time does not really exist.
The units of time are a human invention. We have all agreed to participate in our imaginary construct of time and the measurements of time can be manipulated to reduce the quality of time we have each day. So instead of counting minutes to get something done, counting moments with friends exploring something new is much more rewarding. When we choose the metrics that matter most for our lives, instead of the ones expected by others, we maximize our moments. When your time finally runs out, you are the only one who must consider how you chose to spend your precious time. Choose wisely.
Sometimes, when I close my eyes to dream, I am back on that ship, that floating island. We are forever forging forward on eternal seas, untethered by time and floating in the bliss of open space. I am at the helm, wind whipping past my grinning face. I am measuring life's joys not in minutes but in moments. In Memories.
I hope you experience similar bliss one day soon, but until then just remember...
Time is just a human invention.
Time became fluid, flowing from day to night with reckless abandon. Rather than being solid, established in stone by the ticking of a clock, it became a nebulous essence controlled by the whims of our Captain.
You see, from the moment our ship the MV World Odyssey departed from the shores of Ensenada, Mexico we crossed a new time zone almost every other day. As a result, I would go to bed at 10pm, sleep for eight hours and wake up at 5am. This would happen every two days. I was updating my watch so often I often forgot which time was real and which was fake. Our whole ship relied on the Captain to announce our official time over loudspeakers. This all culminated with us crossing the international date line along the Pacific Ocean and "skipping" an entire day of our lives. One precious day that technically I'll never get back.
The feeling of having time shift like quicksand beneath me was both uncanny and unsettling. However, it provided a freedom I never though possible. I was no longer enslaved by the typical dictates of time. Each hour and minute did not need to be structured and squeezed into a day, but instead flowed from one day to the next seamlessly. This does not mean that I was unproductive. Instead I was unworried about wasting seconds. Excess stress saps the meaning from every second. So by being stress-free, I was more productive and more appreciative of each breath during that short time than any other in my life. Each experience shaped the next and I simply followed my internal rhythms, making most of the sunlight while marveling at the moon at midnight.
It felt like we were sailing the world on a floating island, a cocoon shelter, detached from the worries of the mainland and living in our own alternate reality, our own alternate timeline. All that mattered were actions and interactions, experiences and memories - momentous moments - regardless of when they were formed. Thriving in that mental state was pure bliss. As a result, slowly, an idea began to dawn on me.
It began to dawn on me that time does not really exist.
The units of time are a human invention. We have all agreed to participate in our imaginary construct of time and the measurements of time can be manipulated to reduce the quality of time we have each day. So instead of counting minutes to get something done, counting moments with friends exploring something new is much more rewarding. When we choose the metrics that matter most for our lives, instead of the ones expected by others, we maximize our moments. When your time finally runs out, you are the only one who must consider how you chose to spend your precious time. Choose wisely.
Sometimes, when I close my eyes to dream, I am back on that ship, that floating island. We are forever forging forward on eternal seas, untethered by time and floating in the bliss of open space. I am at the helm, wind whipping past my grinning face. I am measuring life's joys not in minutes but in moments. In Memories.
I hope you experience similar bliss one day soon, but until then just remember...
Time is just a human invention.
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