Giving Time

Hi Readers,

Another post and you might be wondering what the prompt was this time. 

Or you just might not give a toss!!

I'm a shocker for using post-it notes all the time. I use them as constant reminders for everything from my shopping list, to reminders to do things around the house and even reminders about what to do each day! There is a post-it note pad in my car in case I need to jot something down before I forget it, one beside my bed in case I wake up and think of something and need to write it down in case I forget about it in the morning.

As a result there are often notes all around the place with scribble on them, some very important, but in most cases it's just mickey-mouse stuff that in the bigger scheme of things is very insignificant. I've just created a habit of doing it.

So a few moments ago I was cleaning up the kitchen bench and I found a note that I had scribbled on last week sometime. I'd glance at it so often in the past few days and made a mental note "I should check what I have written on that note", and it wasn't until I picked it up just now that I read it again, and thought it might be a good prompt for a post.

As I have to kill just a few hours this morning as I have to head off to work later today (more about that later) what better opportunity than to belt out a post?

As I have the radio going nearly all the time when I'm driving or doing stuff around the house, I listen to lots of talkback and podcasts. On one last week there was some discussion around the topic of "What do you give time to?"

It wasn't pointed in any particular direction, it was just asking people to describe the things that they give time to, be it super important or mediocre. Having said that, to me, anything that you choose to give time to must be important, and it's only the perceptions of others that diminish it.

An example of people giving time was described by a representative of a tourist organisation. Overseas Readers, there is a tourist attraction on the coast here in Victoria called The Twelve Apostles, a rock formation in the ocean not far from the cliffs. Most have fallen down over time, leaving just a few, definitely not twelve anymore!!

Anyway, this representative shared some data about the number of visitors per month, year etc, but the one bit that really caught my attention was when he said that a majority of people will travel up to 5 hours to visit this attraction and that the average stay was only 12 minutes!!!!

I presume that this is mainly foreign tourists doing a day trip from Melbourne, but isn't that a huge investment of time for only 12 minutes? Of course there would be so many others who travel for less, or spend more than 12 minutes there, but that is a big commitment still.

Which got me thinking.

What things have I, and do I freely give time to?

I can relate to some similar travel stories as Jen and I travelled extensively together and have so many memories and stories to share.

I remember when we were in Paris and we stood under the Eiffel Tower for the first time. I was totally mesmerised by its sheer size and just couldn't comprehend it even though I was there. I could have stood under it and marvelled at it for ages until I got my arm grabbed by Jen with a bit of a hurry up to go up the lift.

By the time we got to the top level my amazement just went ballistic. Being terrified of heights, I still managed to have a look around and I was content to just lean on the rails and soak up looking over Paris, and realising that I was actually standing on the Eiffel Tower!! I could have spent hours there, but then my arm was grabbed again and I'm being told "Come on, we've got things to do and places to see!" Clearly Jen wasn't loving it as much as I was, I just lost all sense of time while I was up there, I could have given it all the time in the world.

A slightly different experience for both of us when we visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

We had really been looking forward to seeing this, and I don't want to sound ungrateful for having the chance to do it in the first place, but after looking at it, we both then looked at each other as if to say "Is that it??" then just laughed.

In all our travels we found places that we could have just spent ages there just soaking it all up. This includes famous attractions as we would just consider ourselves so lucky to have the opportunity to experience them.

But some of our greatest memories came from just sitting in a quaint piazza, or along a riverbank or just on a balcony of where we might have been staying and we would just absorb the atmosphere and try to experience life as a local.

In my recent travels I have just loved having time to sit at a coffee shop or hotel and just watch how people from another country go about their business. I thought I'd be a person who'd always go for the big attractions, but over the years I've found that I just love giving time to doing the things that aren't as rushed or well known. Earlier this year I was in New York, and I just loved the time wandering the streets and taking in the sights, sounds and smells of such a vibrant city. Not what I'd say was relaxing, but a time when I would lose all sense of time.

Sorry to harp on overseas travel Readers, but it is something I had yearned to do since I was about 18, and it wasn't until many, many years later that I have been lucky enough to do it.

There is one place that I have been to twice, and I still consider it to be the most beautiful place I have seen anywhere. Not just the beauty of the place, but how it made me feel.

On both occasions I just found myself finding a quiet place to myself and just soaking up the atmosphere and sheer beauty, I'm sure I'll go back there again!

And this place?

Lake Louise in Canada. 

When I came back from my first trip there I was constantly banging on to Jen about this lake that I had visited, and how we must go there together one day. As she hadn't been there, she'd just nod politely and let me finish gushing about a place that had no relevance to her whatsoever.

Fast forward a few years and one of our sons is working in Banff, just down the road from Lake Louise. Of course, one of the first things I did was drag her up there and instead of me talking all about it it I just let Jen make up her own mind.

And then she says to me, "I get what you were saying about this place"

We then just took a slow walk around the lake, taking in all the sounds, the quiet, the smells and the incredible scenery. Nothing needed to be said, and for one of those rare times, neither of us was in a rush to go and do other things.

Jen had taken me to Reggio Emilia in Italy on a previous trip, a place that had such special memories for her, and it wasn't until then that I began to understand her love and passion for what she experienced there.

We would often just sit in the Piazza and watch the world go by, and time meant nothing to us at all.

As I mentioned earlier when we at the Eiffel Tower and Jen rushed me off to see other things (we'd probably been there for ages, I was just so absorbed!) I am so guilty of doing the same to her.

We love our coffees, so every day we'd sit somewhere and have one. Now Readers, it is a bit of a joke in our family that I just chug my coffees too quickly, and as soon as they are served they are gulped down, no matter how hot they are.

This always happened when we'd go somewhere. No sooner after sitting down, my coffee would be demolished then I'd get 'The Stare' from Jen as she might not have even had her first sip!! I learnt to understand the stare as soon as I'd finish mine I'd be fidgeting and shuffling about trying to give her the hurry on as "We have places to go and things to see". Sound familiar???

The first few times this happened I foolishly asked her to hurry up, but over time she developed 'the stare' which I very quickly learnt to understand!!!!

Then 'the stare' became a wry smile, as she knew she had me on her leash!!!

It has only been in the past few years that I fully realised this was her "giving time" moments. Just because I didn't value the pleasure of really sitting back and enjoying the coffee and soaking up the atmosphere, I was denying her the opportunity to do what she valued. Now I get it.

Let's get away from travel, as I could bang on about so many occasions where I could 'give time', but that would bore you to tears as it is only really relevant to me, and you would just be thinking "Meh!!"

But having said that Readers, here's something for you to think about.What do you love "giving time" to? 

What are the things that mesmerise you, entrap you and make you lose all sense of time?

In a way, when I'm doing these posts I lose track of all time as I just love the way that it gets me thinking about things that matter to me. But probably not to you!!!

There are things we do when one eye is constantly on the clock as we just hope it will finish, while there are other times when we look at the clock and think "Where did those 3 hours go??" When does this apply to you? 

And more importantly, do we give ourselves the chance to do them, or do we let the other things overrun them?

I know it's an old saying, "I don't have the time", but when one commits to making the time it is such a joy to experience.

Back in the day when I was able to do the thing that I just loved so much, going for runs I would experience this so much. Of course there were days when I'd grind out a run as I knew I had to maintain the training in order to achieve certain goals. 

But on other days I'd get out on the road and everything just clicked. The legs were moving, the breathing was steady and the hills felt even less steeper than they did before. I'd stop looking at the watch and just run for the love of it, and before too long I'd have 20-30km under the belt and still feeling as fresh as a daisy.

How I'd long for those days again as just walking around the block at the moments stuffs me up for a day or two!!!! Still, I'm so grateful for what I was able to do, I'll just find other ways to get the same feeling.

Now, as I mentioned earlier in this post, I mentioned about heading off to work later today, so I better finish this post and start getting ready.

For the overseas readers, I had been a teacher for 38 years then retired at the end of last year. However, there is still the opportunity here to do be a Casual Relief Teacher, or CRT, where you are hired for a day here and there to fill in for teachers who are away for different reasons. 

All this year I have tossed the idea about and whether or not I would be up to it, do I want to do it or if I'd be any good at it.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I contacted my previous school and said I'd be available for CRT work if needed. In some ways I might have been thinking "There, I've put my name forward, but I hope they don't contact me"!!!  But I was also thinking that I was keen to give it a try just to see if I was absolutely finished, and I didn't want to regret not giving it a crack.

Well, lo and behold I have done a few days this week, and guess what? I've loved it!!!

I went in and took Indonesian for a few classes (Okay, stop laughing!!) and because I don't know any Indonesian I can't really say if I was successful or not. The kids didn't cry or run away so at least that was a win!! At one point I was thinking if my Indonesian was failing I'd slip into Japanese mode, as I taught Japanese back in the day.

Then the next day I took a class for the day in the room that I'd taught in for the past two years, it felt very comfortable. And the icing on the cake was taking 4 classes for a combined sports session. Talk about living the dream!!

Today I'm going in for the last part of the day, so anything could happen.

I know I've only been out of the game for 10 months, but things have changed dramatically since I retired so I was constantly asking the kids "Am I doing this right?" I'm not to proud to do that I can tell you.

A funny moment was when I was doing something on the screen and was once again not knowing what I was doing and I glanced up and a student obviously read the situation and just gave me an approving nod, as if to say "You've got this". In the end I just told the kids to tell me when I was in the wrong, and to their credit they didn't wind me up or prank me, they were just the best. Bless them!!! 

I have been so nervous about going back to work part time, there's a part of me that says "You don't need to do this", but also another part that is saying "You want to do this"

So the experiences of the days back in the classroom this week have made me give a bit more time to thinking about the approach I will take as a CRT, as it is quite different from going in as the usual teacher. And whether I'll continue as a CRT next year is up in the air, I don't know which way I will go, but for the moment it has been just the tonic for my wellbeing as the past few months have been a real challenge.

Readers, I have loved 'giving time' to doing this post as it has given me clarity about making some recent decisions, and for something I'll be doing in the coming days that I'm still uncertain about. In recent posts I spoke about not spending too much time dwelling on decisions, so in the next few days I hope that I can find out if this decision is going to be good for me or just something where people will say "Yep, he's losing it again!"

Time will tell!!

Readers, In the coming days I hope you can identify at least one thing that you'd love to give time to, and treat yourself to it. Forget mowing the lawns or doing work related tasks. Do something for YOU!!

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁

p.s. I actually love mowing the lawns, and weeding the gardens! It gives me time!!!!!