Watts Bar Lake, Tennessee
Recently I have been considering how quickly time passes and have wondered to myself is this because I don't slow down to enjoy the small moments, achievements, even struggles? Do I just have my blinders on plowing ahead from one moment to the next just getting whatever is next on my list done? Over the weekend I worked on my theory a bit and I was pleasantly surprised. I had a few errands to run on Saturday morning and instead of rushing out the door and road raging up and down the streets. I ran my errands in no real order, I took my time, I stopped and spoke with folks, and I had lunch with my daughter. I went to the International Delicatessen and shopped for treats to take to Game Night at a friends house and I was home and happy long before I originally thought I would be. Giving me time to look at a new quilt pattern I've had my eye on before getting ready for Game Night.
As you know from my previous post, on Friday afternoon I picked up a beautiful Stack-O-Quilts from my longarm quilter ... in the past I would have rushed home and stayed up until all hours of the night getting all of those quilts bound ... and not enjoying the process very much at all. Well, not this time! I decided to take my time and chose the perfect store bought binding for each of those quilts on Saturday morning ... which is exactly what I did. It was glorious and added to the enjoyment of my quilting hobby and to my Saturday morning shopping fun. Saturday evening was spent at a friends house enjoying board and card games and friendship. We had wine and cheese and chocolates and laughter and conversation. It was just a wonderful leisurely day all of the way around.
Yesterday, even with the loss of an hour due to the time change I accomplished so many things ... all at a very meaningful and relaxed pace. Some house cleaning and laundry had to be done but instead of rushing around trying to get it all done before "a certain time" I enjoyed the tasks at hand and got far more accomplished than I had even intended. And, I still managed to get 2 of the 5 quilts bound, sat on my deck and enjoyed the sunshine, got all of my chores done, put on a pot of pinto beans for dinner this evening, and went out to a wonderful Mexican dinner with a friend.
My point in all of this is that I'm not so sure that time is what is going by so much faster but that we are going faster and faster, rushing to the NEXT thing. Instead of enjoying our days we rush to work, we rush to this appointment or this event, we rush to fill our calendars with things to do (usually over committing ourselves), then we rush home, go to bed, get up and REPEAT! In that way the minutes and hours do just fly by marked by stress ... or worse indifference.
I'm going to continue to work on this theory of mine and just relax and see where it takes me.
