Taking the time

Taking the time to hear
Taking the time to watch
Taking the time to feel
Taking the time to smell

Once the shock of the sudden closing down of office and shops wore off, I found myself adjusting to what I call the new normal. After the first month I got quite adept at tricking myself into believing it, only once in a while something came along and reminded me of the strange micro world we now inhabit.

By month two I was getting a bit bored of this new normal, but then I began to think about some of the positives. Our new morning walk through the local woods, observing the gentle unfurling of springtime day by day. The longer evenings of daylight to spend in the garden. And that got me thinking about other positives in what was being presented as a largely negative world.

As anyone who knows me well, I enjoy planning trips away, arranging the details and having the dates in the diary. Dates to look forward to, to anticipate the pleasure of the break away from routine. Now, with the restrictions wiping clean the diary and with no opportunity to plan ahead, I had to change the way of looking at the future. After a couple of weeks of frustration I adopted the que sera sera attitude, deciding that second guessing where restrictions would be in two months time was pointless.

That left me to focus fully on the present. And how much ‘present’ we have been given. Many folk I know have used this enforced extra time to learn a new hobby, or spend more time gardening or cooking or reading. And it is this, the taking of time that interests me.

Before shutdown, days and weeks were largely measured by meetings and greetings, meetings in the office, greeting friends in the leisure time. Now, I take pleasure in slowing things down, such as taking the time to enjoy the garden whilst weeding,or laughing at the amateur acrobatics of the local pigeons. And there is something else, I now feel that I own the time, I am in control of the time I use up in my leisure hours. Taking time.

Traditionally in literature time has been portrayed as incessant, advancing you forward whether you like it or not. And whilst this is on one level still true, it doesn’t have to be the only way to look at time. Given long summer evenings, we can spend longer listening to the birdsong, reading that book, writing this blog. And by investing more time in that single activity, we not only widen the experience but, sometimes, deepen it too.

And so, as we live in a time that we can travel more and explore new places, I’m quite happy to continue taking my time. After all, sometimes quality wins over quantity.

Taking the time to hear Sand Martins
Taking the time to watch this tide coming in
Taking the time to feel the wind on your neck
Taking the time to smell damp seaweed