I was very frustrated last night because I never had a moment to myself. The entire day goes by where I think that I am going to do something and at midnight, there hasn’t been enough time. Also lending to the sense of frustration was the fact that yesterday was my first day back from vacation. That marks the beginning of our busiest time of the year at work. On top of that, is the fact that I will be leaving for an extended business trip tomorrow. It is an unusual work situation. Employees in my department must take their vacation at a certain time of year – so if you have seniority and several weeks of vacation, you get them all at once. After that long break, where you family is sick to death of seeing you, you return to work. Then, you don’t see your family at all for nearly a month because you out of town on business. When you return, you work long hours and some six-day weeks. There is no time to take vacation for 11 months.
You are always running on someone else’s time.
It is not my time. I hate the summer and would much rather take my vacation in the spring or fall. I love the holidays and would prefer to have time to enjoy them. All these things ran through my mind yesterday and I tried desperately to get back in the swing of things and have a positive attitude. It occurred to me that this isn’t just my problem. This is endemic in our culture. We alter our lives, our diet, our recreation and even our biorhythms to fit our work schedules. Humans are not nocturnal, but people work at night. You don’t have time to cook when you work late, so you grab something on the way home. We spend hours a day in our little metal bubbles, alone and stuck in traffic. We rush home to take the kids to this sport or that class. We push them into schedules and organized activities so they will be prepared when they grow up to never have a moment that they have to figure out what to do all on their own.
Keep running, don’t think. Turn the music up. Don’t allow any silent contemplation. If you do, you might just realize your time is not your own.
Cog in the Wheel 
Someone Else’s Time
Tags: time, work
I was very frustrated last night because I never had a moment to myself. The entire day goes by where I think that I am going to do something and at midnight, there hasn’t been enough time. Also lending to the sense of frustration was the fact that yesterday was my first day back from vacation. That marks the beginning of our busiest time of the year at work. On top of that, is the fact that I will be leaving for an extended business trip tomorrow. It is an unusual work situation. Employees in my department must take their vacation at a certain time of year – so if you have seniority and several weeks of vacation, you get them all at once. After that long break, where you family is sick to death of seeing you, you return to work. Then, you don’t see your family at all for nearly a month because you out of town on business. When you return, you work long hours and some six-day weeks. There is no time to take vacation for 11 months.
You are always running on someone else’s time.
It is not my time. I hate the summer and would much rather take my vacation in the spring or fall. I love the holidays and would prefer to have time to enjoy them. All these things ran through my mind yesterday and I tried desperately to get back in the swing of things and have a positive attitude. It occurred to me that this isn’t just my problem. This is endemic in our culture. We alter our lives, our diet, our recreation and even our biorhythms to fit our work schedules. Humans are not nocturnal, but people work at night. You don’t have time to cook when you work late, so you grab something on the way home. We spend hours a day in our little metal bubbles, alone and stuck in traffic. We rush home to take the kids to this sport or that class. We push them into schedules and organized activities so they will be prepared when they grow up to never have a moment that they have to figure out what to do all on their own.
Keep running, don’t think. Turn the music up. Don’t allow any silent contemplation. If you do, you might just realize your time is not your own.