Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Doing the time warp again

Days of the week have become less relevant since I've retired. They've become even less relevant since I'm living out on the fringes of regular society. I have to remember when certain businesses and services are open or closed, but beyond that? Eh.

Sometimes, though, I feel a little like Billy Pilgrim of Slaughterhouse-Five. Unstuck in time. It's not that I have flashbacks or think I'm being held in an alien zoo. It's just that everything feels like it should be a different day of the week.

Each of the past five days have felt exactly like Sunday. Not going-to-church Sunday or watching-football Sunday. Just things-are-shut-down-and-quiet Sunday. It felt that way today as I drove to the post office to pick up my forwarded mail. Even though I knew it was Tuesday, a business day, it felt wrong. Part of my brain was saying, "The post office isn't open on Sundays." The traffic didn't feel like workday traffic. The comings and goings of people didn't feel like a workday either. The light, the angle of the sun, the smell of the air, the sounds (or lack thereof). It all told me it was Sunday.

I know it's because I have no weekly routine and that I'm around people who also have no weekly routine. Even my daily routine is very loose. And my sleep schedule is all over the place. Does this mean I need more structure in my life? Oh man, I hope not.

3 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Yes. I have had that experience in other circumstances. Maybe that was more common once in history than it is today. Being literate and having a sense of history contributes a lot to our definitions of life. Even everyday life. Although without being literate people still observed holidays and holy days. Thanks for
    your posts. Mimi.

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  2. My life appears to be falling into a structure again. I now sleep 3am to Noon.

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  3. I wonder how our hunter-gatherer ancestors experienced time?

    For me, the days of the week are becoming less relevant. When I have projects, I work a few hours a day, day after day, until I'm read for a break. Then I take some time off. It don't matter to me whether it's a weekend or not.

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