It’s About Time

Our relationship with time is a personal one.

Detail from The Triumph of History Over Time (Allegory of the Museum Clementinum, ceiling fresco) by Anton Raphael Mengs (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)

“No preacher is listened to but time, which gives us the same train and turn of thought that elder people have in vain tried to put into our heads before.” — Jonathan Swift, 1706

Time is a strange thing. Our perception of time is warped (see what I did there?) but we mark it in absolutes.

We can lose track of time when we’re enjoying ourselves, or feel like time is standing still when we’re loathing our surroundings.

“Time, when it is left to itself and no definite demands are made on it, cannot be trusted to move at any recognized pace. Usually it loiters, but just when one has come to count upon its slowness, it may suddenly break into a wild irrational gallop.” — Edith Wharton, 1905

For anyone with children, the phrase “The days are long but the years are short” hits home, as the daily toil of parenting can seem like a slog, but…