Have
you ever noticed that no matter what time you wake up, if you
have some type of regular daily demands, chances are you always
seem ready to go at exactly the same time?
Maybe
it’s just me.
But
here’s the funny reality I’ve noticed…
I
normally set my alarm for 7am. Gives me plenty of time to do what
I need to do—shower, iron, drive to work—and arrive a few minutes
early for the start of my professional day.
Of
course, routines and habits become routines and habits for a reason,
and I don’t always wake up with the alarm. I just wake up, because
of course I do. Most days, I’m moving before the alarm goes off.
Every so often, perhaps once a year, I end up staying asleep right
through one or two snooze requests.
The
crazy thing is, let’s say I leave the house at 8:15 on those 7am
alarm days. Whether I wake up an hour early or twenty minutes
late… if I have ironed the day before or suddenly have extra work
before I can leave due to an unexpected snowfall… whatever the
challenge is, and for reasons that defy explanation, I’m still
in the car and leaving my driveway at 8:15.
And
that’s where the title comes in to play.
It’s
subtle. I don’t really believe that if I wake up at 6am that I’m
intentionally moving more slowly because I know I have more time.
I’m not consciously allowing longer stretches to watch additional
news segments on a television that normally is on only for background
noise and perhaps a weather forecast. It’s not an opportunity
to make a more elaborate breakfast. I’m definitely not suddenly
more productive with household chores.
Still,
somehow, my pacing has been manipulated. There I am taking longer
to do what I normally do. Awake an hour early does not mean ready
an hour early.
Same
theories apply when I need to do more or have less time. I don’t
think about picking up the pace, but apparently, I do.
Wake
up on time… wake up early… wake up late… always off to work at
8:15. That’s just the way it is.
Watch
the Olympics or some racing event and you’ll see pacesetters out
there. Keep the true competitors on the right rhythm and timing
to hit their targets. Assist in setting the internal clock properly.
Apparently, some folks have it and some folks need help. Appears
to depend on the circumstance and routine.
Doesn’t
have to be true time though. Not always associated with a clock
on the wall or watch on your wrist. Could be sunrise and sunset.
(And if you don’t believe that, try having a dog that wants to
go out the morning after daylight savings changes. You’ll find
they don’t care what the clock is telling you, that’s not how
they set the events of their day.)
Strange
how things that normally become part of our routines… potential
trigger points for other reactions, I suppose… and the world changing
around us means those signals change as well.
Growing
up I could tell you when the mail was going to be delivered… when
the evening paper would arrive… watched the local news at 6 and
primetime television at 8. Certain events happened at a certain
time or in a certain way.
Changes
and advances such as the ability to tape shows eliminated the
need to stay home and watch everything either when it happened
or suffer the loss and miss it completely. And now… well… newspapers
are all but gone, mail is on that path, and I don’t know anyone
that has seen a local or national news broadcast between 6 and
7pm more than a handful of times (forget regularly) in decades.
World
keeps turning. Our routines change.
Still,
once things get back to any regular sense of commitments and responsibilities
from these world in crisis new realities… once the need is there
to be someplace every day at the same time… once those days return,
I imagine I’ll find myself once again waking almost every morning
at the same time. I’ll turn off the alarm before it goes off,
make my breakfast, and head to work. And no matter what time my
eyes open, the clock on the dashboard will read the same as I
move from the driveway onto the road.
That’s
part of the history… and mystery… of time.