Time and Perspective

When I was getting ready for bed last night I reflected on my weekend and I realized that I did a lot. Or at least I did much more than I had the weekend before. As a result the weekend felt much longer than the one previous and I am going to work this morning feeling like I have not been there in a while which of course is silly because I was just there Friday.

Time and perspective are funny things. Last weekend I wasn’t feeling well and I spent most of it in bed trying to catch up on my sleep. As a result the weekend seemed to whizz by and it was Monday before I knew it. This weekend I presented a paper on Ruskin and architecture at a symposium at UofT and I was there until close to 6pm. And that was my Saturday having not much room or time for a lot else except supper, yet I did manage to take an hour or so before bedtime to do some secondary source research for my next conference paper which is in a week and half or so. 

Sunday (yesterday) I worked on this next conference paper all day which is on The Hours and Bergsonian durée and it’s a paper that I have easily been contemplating and putting on the back burner for about 8 years. Time flies apparently when you are busy and working many precarious positions. So maybe it is because I spent all of yesterday thinking of time, simultaneity,  and the imposed measuring of time that I felt the weekend was long. Or maybe it is because when you are immersed in something that is mentally stimulating and you have the privilege of space to think through these concepts that time slows way down. That’s why some days at work seem long (in a good way)- I’m looking at learning outcomes, I’m thinking about curriculum and engagement.

I have written close to 5000 words since Friday so it was nice to add to my words per day tally. But it was also really nice to get to spend time with concepts that I love and are not things I necessarily encounter in my day-to-day work life.  A former student said to me recently “it’s important to have a hobby.” She then started talking to me about knitting and swimming and I started to reflect if I had anything like that. “Reading?” I said quizzically and the response I often get is “but that’s not a hobby that’s your work.” I realized this weekend that there is a difference and I can proudly say that reading, research, writing, and giving conference papers are a sort of hobby for me. It’s a very privileged position to take and I acknowledge that, but I think it’s true. I usually take much joy in researching and writing conference papers. It is a much different feeling than writing a paper for publication (that’s a whole other blog post).

Again it’s about this perspective piece that seems to be a theme running through these blogs of late. All I know for sure is that it’s 7am Monday, I’m on my way to work and I’m excited to see what the day brings for dare I say- I feel refreshed and much more in the moment/in time than I have for the past few weeks.