Where is my Thirteenth Hour
Sometimes, I really wonder why the supreme artist puts, what seems, a uneven almost spiteful limit on our time in this field of experience. So many things are gone in the blink of an eye and other things linger well past their expiration date. Some things come extremely fast, so fast, one is unable to fully enjoy them. Other things just drift off into nothingness as one waits for it's arrival. What would you do with a thirteenth hour?
Time, it's constant, a constant bitch. Even as I only sleep a few hours per day, I feel so many important things slipping out of my reach. I do achieve more in a single day than I see most people doing in two or three but I still feel violated as each minute passes. Where is the off switch or at least a pause button? So much time lost sleeping, eating, defecating and driving. So many experiences missed and path altering experiences lost.
The world is at our fingertips and we waste most of it, self gratification at a key stroke. The real world ebbing away right past the screen. I'm at fault is this experiment in disconnectedness by wires and WiFi, the same as anyone. This grand illusion of connecting, sharing and building relationships on-line. It's hard enough to know your true self, what can you really learn about someone through text on a screen? The facade they build in a digital image for all to see? So many are cool and collected and seem relaxed. Most are not acting in the moment, they are typing after reflection on what they see. Those who type in the moment, as the thoughts are clearing their frontal lobe, are often viewed as hostile or rude. They are just more real than those who wait hours to create a response in place of what they feel in the moment. More time lost, false replies, everywhere.
Such is life of a digital environment. Here there is a delete button, a pause button and an off button. Some use it some just keep exploding from one screen to the next. There is an unending supply of whatever you want in/on the Internet. It really is an amazing illusion of information and knowledge. Digital friendships that change as fast as the direction of the wind based on opinions, money, hopes of money and digital likes. It is really amazing to watch unfold. It is almost like people watching, just in their digital cage, instead of in their natural habitat. Just like monkey's at the zoo, nothing like they really are in the jungle. It's strange to think of honestly and most don't everyday. They just log in to make believe land and interact.
So what would I do with a thirteenth hour? Spend more time watching my kids sleep, watching them learn or listening to the amazing things that come out of their mouths. I am already around them all day but it isn't enough, even now I have three of them here, talking to me as I write. I started to think of this reality in full last night as my little man was sick in my arms. I was just watching him be miserable as there was little to do but hold him and try to comfort him as he threw up all down the front of me. I was pretty amazed at my composer. I am normally the one who throws up right behind someone if I am right there. That's different with my kids, I fight it back, as they need dad. It hit me right there at that moment. I had no reflex, no fight to keep down chunks.
This is my 3 y/o. My sunshine baby, one I feel, I have bonded with more since his birth. He came out so small, 1/2 the size of any of his brothers or sisters. Doctors had pretty much told us to not get our hopes up of bringing him home from the hospital. He wasn't much bigger than my hand, couldn't eat himself, breathe on his own or keep his body temperature. Talk about feeling helpless. A full grown man weeping like a toddler who lost his favorite toy. I saw something in him from the beginning, the fight to live. A strength I have seen many full grown men not be able to conjurer for a few extra hours at the end. I saw that strength again last night as he toughed out his night, with dad once again feeling helpless.
So over the next few weeks until his 4th birthday, I am going to take my 13th hour. One extra hour where I can, unplugged from the disconnectedness of the Internet. My extra gift to him for being so strong and growing into an amazing boy.
Tell me what you'd do with a 13th hour in the comments for a chance to win a zClassic before the fork to BTC Private.
spend more time with my kids. From the time I get home from work until their bedtime is usually around 2 hours or so, and most of that time they are eating dinner, or already super cranky. To have an extra hour a day with them would be awesome.
They change everything, don't they.
I'd very likely just spread the extra time indistinguishably throughout the day and waste it accordingly, as usual. I've no kids or emotions to feel a strong desire for extra time, and if you were consciously granted it, you'd only want more and expect the possibility of such, thus leading an even more miserable life.
Our finite lives have value because they are finite. Hoping for more is par for the course, otherwise we'd sit around doing nothing for eternity.
Kinda like what I do now
I could see myself responding that way before children. I will have to remember to ask each of the childless responses this question again down the road.
Oh, man, @erodedthoughts, you're such a philosopher, reading your thoughts flow through these lines got a lot of things unveiled to me. And the poignance of this piece is thrilling.
A thirteenth hour would surely be crucial for me, I'll spend it going out with my little brothers, spending time with them, teaching them from my store of knowledge, giving them good values and helping them grow up to be outstanding.
They are born in a society where respect for children is little, children are seen here as sheeps to be herded, their opinions are not asked usually for even things that affects them. Very little is usually expected from them, theyre also being scolded on, or even beaten by elders when they make little mistakes, very little mistakes.
They are intelligent and talented but if someone is not there to let them realise this fully, they can grow up thinking they are fools and possessing very low self-esteem. That was how I grew up, to have a very low self-esteem, I still haven't completely gotten rid of it till now.
There's this thing Einstein once said:
Something like that. My chief want is to make sure my little brothers don't grow up to have low self esteem like me due to the jabs and shots from their society.
i actually started a business, and basically seized a 13th and 14th hour from my ex employer. I go to bed super early, and rise before everyone - 5Am or earlier. I gather my thoughts, have some coffee, stare out the window, and dream of where I want to be. I'm actually getting pretty close to being there in reality, but my dream time, early AM - That's the bomb! Upvoted, and I applaud you on making the most use of this venue.
That's awesome, starting your own business can most definitely free up some time for you, if you pick the right business. I took the same step 5 years ago when we decided to start having kids again. Granted I am not an early riser but I do get that magic dream time at night when all else are sleeping.
Your post has been curated by the @buildawhale team and mentioned here:
https://steemit.com/curation/@buildawhale/buildawhale-curation-digest-01-08-18
Keep up the good content.
Woah. Powerful post Eroded.
I am very happy to see you writing like this.
I love it a lot.
I can feel the genuineness in each and every word.
As to what I would do with a thirteenth hour, I would spend it on myself.
A self-love date.
Spend time reading the books that I've been putting off.
Meditating.
Rolling around on my yoga mat which makes me feel delicious.
A quiet time for me and myself only!
Thank you! I have found it's easier for me to write when i just let it come out. Trying to pick a topic and then over work the idea doesn't seem to work for me.
Very amazing. Very poetic. What should you do with the extra time you are going to dedicate? Anything you do with them (him) is amazing. Make them feel like they are the only ones in the world that matter.
He is only 11 months younger than his next oldest brother so, he is like a twin. So he never really get's alone time and now with the new baby, I feel it's getting even slimmer.
I have no idea what I would do with a thirteenth hour. In fact, I’ve always said I needed a 14th hour even. But currently, after many decades of 3-4 hours only, my body seems to take it revenge and has recently switched my bio clock to crash around, or even before, midnight and then to wake anytime between 6 and 7AM.
What’s most annoying about this is not only the lost 4 hours but also that my daily flow isn’t focused around my brain’s best hours (1.30PM to 4PM and then another burst around 9-11PM again). I’m kinda at a loss.
What I would do with the extra time, and sorely lack currently, is find my weekly day of disconnected reading again. Currently I only manage to get around 40 minutes daily in my flow and that just isn’t enough to keep my brain’s hunger satisfied. An extra hour, being single and having no offspring, would allow me to read an hour more every day. Something I really need for myself. It’s the best food for thought and totally helps me in everything else I do.
I have no idea what I would do if my body decided it wanted to use a clock. I, normally, just stay up until I am to bored to do anything else. There is a lot I could do at night but am limited to quiet things as everyone else has a set schedule.
With a 13nth Hour, I would get old faster. It means that I would have a 730 hours/year disbalance. I would get almost a year older than everyone else every decade.
I would rather have an hour less. So I could appreciate life more and adapt. The more time I think I have the more I waste.
That is one way to view it as well, I think after kids, you will change your mind.