Tick Tock

Getreadywithmemamma do you own your own time? Time is of the essence, we are running out of time, be on time, what time is it, do you have time, I forgot what time it is, treasure your time together, time flies when you are having fun, tick tock tick tock tick tock. As I was chatting with my friend Bre this morning, we were talking about posts and our busy lives as stay at home moms who also work from home. I realized something about time when you are an entrepreneur and that is that your time is your own. That is not really true, we still are very much so on the world’s schedule. In many ways, we are more so on it because we are responsible for our own companies and their schedules. I’ve thought a lot about time in setting up my own practice and online platform. We are obsessed with time in the West. Did you know that this was not always true? Before trains and the Industrial Revolution, the sun was actually the dictator of time for rest of the world. It told them when to wake, sleep, eat, plant food, harvest it, and to hunt animals. It was the movement of the west, through Imperialism that spread one of it’s main factions of control onto the rest of the world and that was time. It’s how political powers, religious powers, businesses, and other powers sought and gained control of the world. Whom so ever controls time, controls the world. It is one of the only shared values, besides work ethic, that all Americans share and one of the only things that holds us together as a culture. I grew up between two worlds, and cultures. I cannot tell if it is my personality, or cultural tendencies that dictate how I view time. Similar to many bicultural kids, I cannot tell the difference between where my own personality ends and my cultural practice begin. I do know that I live outside of my comfort zone in the west for when I travel to places like Thailand and Guatemala, I relax into a world where relationships and living in the moment are valued. This culture of collectivism does not exist because we are lazy, flexible, unstructured or that we don’t care about a schedule. It exists because they live in these places often with so little control over what happens in their lives and they are not used to being able to control time. There are even euphemisms like we are on “Thai time” to acculturate others into understanding the idea of we just go with it. I am purposely raising my kids in the West so that they can understand time’s power and western power. I want my children to use their western concept of time to have a voice and to empower others and to not control others. There is such a difference. So, the next time you wonder about why others are not following a schedule tightly, try to be gracious with them and with yourself. As the internet continues to break down invisible barriers and constructs may He who lives outside of time give us all grace as we reconstruct time. 💕💕💕💕💕