There’s always something about watching the day change from daylight to dawn. I don’t mean noticing it’s daylight at one point and then looking back at the window to notice it’s dark. What I’m talking about is actually being outside, slowly adjusting to the dark as the sun begins its slow descent past the horizon. When you realize the sunlight has taken its leave for the day, it’s almost like a reminder to be mindful of time.
It’s March already, if you can believe it. On one hand, it’s hard to believe it’s already been roughly a year since COVID lockdowns happened. On the other, it feels more like, “It’s only been a year?” When I think about the fact what’s happened since last March, I look back at all that’s happened.
I had just started my new job at Airship, I moved out of my parent’s house, I finished my part in a project that took about a year to complete, and now I’m here, writing these posts every week.
The problem I’ve always had with time, however, was letting it slip by all too quickly. Every year, I would always exclaim, “Wow, I can’t believe a year has passed by already!” I never really put much thought as to why I felt that way every year until the past couple years. Especially when we transitioned from 2020 to 2021 — why did 2020 feel so much slower? Although there are easily a large number lot of contributing factors, but I think I can boil down to these three things.
First, I started working at Airship! I no longer had to deal with the monotony of working at a convenience store full of brainless customers. Secondly, COVID lockdowns forced an entirely new lifestyle we all had to learn how to adjust to. Lastly, I was actively working on a project with Nightmaren practically every single day.
All of these things culminated in a world in which time slowed down significantly for the first time in my life. Before I used to be able to wait patiently for a specific date because I knew it would come up in no time. Now I felt like 2021 did not come soon enough. I’m already pretty impatient for the new year!
Recently, I started walking my dogs right around 5~6pm every day. During the winter, it would already be dark by the time I went outside. But now that we’re nearing spring, it’s just right at the time when sunlight has begun its descent. The past couple weeks I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to start the walk at daytime and arrive back home at night. It’s honestly a pretty intriguing and bizarre experience to come back home knowing it was perfectly bright only 30 minutes ago.
In fact, that’s what happened today as well. I decided to take my dogs out for a longer walk since it wasn’t cold outside. The sun was out and I could see everything clearly. By the time I reached a familiar point closer to home, I noticed it was dark enough to almost warrant a flashlight. Without even realizing it, night had fallen.
I don’t think it’s such a significantly philosophical viewpoint to take notice of how time can slip by so easily. For me though, it was a reminder of how I used to be and how I let time slip by so much before. If I keep it up, the rest of my life will be a blur. That’s not what I want. I want… no. I need to cherish my time.
So that’s what I’ll do. I’ll learn how to value the time I have. I can start by watching the sun fall as I walk the dogs every day now.
I actually don’t have any photos from last week. I actually screwed up last week. There was one I could have potentially taken a picture of, but I hadn’t thought of it at the time.
I’ll do better this time around. I do plan on going out a bit more. The weather has been nicer lately so hopefully I’ll have better opportunities to take a picture of something worth while!