The concept of time is a troubling one, it is no more than a social construct and would have little meaning if not believed in. However, if this is the case, that time is nothing more than a belief, surely we all see it slightly differently. I am thinking about time beyond the restrictions of a clock-face. I am focusing on time in the shape of moments and indentations in our life span.
I believe that we live life running along our own personal timeline. Our timeline itself, something of metaphorical nature with intangible manner, becomes confused when I begin to explain that I believe we constantly move up and down it. For, how can you move along something that cannot be seen or touched?
In simple terms, we are taught to plan for our future. We are told that everything you do today builds something better for your tomorrow. We constantly plan a life for our future selves, with the intent of making our past self proud. This means that we live in the present whilst simultaneously providing for our future.
From as young as primary school, you were introduced to writing letters to yourself in year 6. You would ask endless questions and perhaps give words of wisdom, and then wait until you finally got to open them again. At the point of writing them your interest is in the future, the you 5 years down the line. But at the point of opening them you obsess over the unruly handwriting of little you, and revel in the mindset of the person you used to be.
“s o m e w h e r e there is a past you overflowing with so much p r i d e looking at how far you have come”
Imagine that there is a version of you from each stage of life frozen in time:
- You on your first birthday
- First day at school
- Turning 16
- Learning to drive
- Turning 18
- University
- First job
- Moving out
etc.
We live today to try and provide for ourselves in each stage of life, even if we are no where near it yet.
We attend university to: obtain a degree, to improve rate of future employability, to give our future self more choice and to increase the amount in our future bank. And yet in the moment you are simply studying a subject you enjoy, working a part time job and just figuring out the now.
It’s a confusing concept I suppose, trying to live in the moment, but also prepare the best tomorrow for ourselves. And yet we do it all the time.
Our movements up and down our timeline are hidden in the blissful moments. When you’ve had your first baby and reach for your own photo albums to see who they look like most, or take a guess at who they will grow up to be. In that one capsule of time you are fixed in the present with one arm in the past and one reaching into the future and yet it all occurs in one serene moment.
It can be a simple as imaginary play at the age of nine, wishing that you were twenty. Your mind is already racing ahead to another stage of life imagining what you look like there and yet at that point we could never know. But that doesn’t stop us doing it.
We are forever bouncing through time exploring the moments that have occurred, are occurring and are yet to occur.
Time truly is a funny concept.
x
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