Saturday, November 5, 2011

Time


Time feels different here. Days feel longer, but I am not too sure why. I think it is because I am not running around trying to complete my “to-do” list. I don’t look back on my day and think “where did my day go?” There is something more peaceful about living here. Something which makes me feel less anxious or stressed. Days just flow in their natural course. I only look at my watch when I have to go to class or an event. When I feel like taking a walk, reading, talking to my roommates or just sitting in the grass with Momo; I never ask myself the question “do I actually have the time to do this?” I just go for it.  It allows my time to be so much more spontaneous. I think that’s it! My days are hardly ever planned; I wake up not knowing what my day is going to look like. It’s just a new day with a big question mark!
That’s what slows time down: freedom! Not being worried about time for once. I remember being at Wheaton and not believing how fast time went by. It feels so different now. This shows that you really can change the perception of time; it just depends on how you spend it, and where your mind is while you are living.
Weekends? Weekdays? There isn’t really a big difference between them. In fact the days of the weeks are only told in English. Some of my Bhutanese friends didn't know how to recite them in Dzongkha. I like that there isn’t such an emphasis put on the dates. Days are just days-time passing by. Personally, I dislike knowing the date because that reminds me how much time is left here. Interestingly, not too long ago, birthdays were not celebrated individually. There was only one date which was celebrated and that was New Years. It was considered to be the whole country's birthday every year. I like that idea of just acknowledging everyone’s presence in one day. To all grow older on that day. Speaking to a friend while watching Thimphu from the Buddha point on top of the mountain, he said, “Why do we say twenty years old, it should be twenty years young.” I wonder why we should celebrate people’s age or even tie it to people’s identity. Age doesn’t have to say so much about you. We shouldn’t have to be so conscious of our own age, it’s just time spent on Earth. I don’t even have to be so stressed about getting to places on time because of magic “Bhutanese Stretchable Time” (BST). I have lived in countries where no one ever gets anywhere on time, so it's nice to be in that time zone again.

"Everybody's worried about time
But i just keep that shit off my mind
People living on twenty-four hour clocks
But we're on a ride that never stops"
-Ziggy Marley


Ludivine de Rancourt

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