Me vs the Space-Time Continuum

Today I fertilized the plants. It was only supposed to take a minute…

I woke up at 6:15am. My hubby had gone off to run earlier, and I was mentally ready for him to return, shower and take a short nap on the couch before leaving for work. That meant I would not be able to do my normal sequence of routine, so I planned to get up, make the bed, maybe water, then go into the office and get to work on Sky. Yay!

Recalling that it had rained last night, I was pleased at the notion that I wouldn’t have to water the grass and could get started on writing that much earlier. I’d just take a minute to fertilize the plants front and back. It’s better to fertilize early when it’s cool, after all, and it’s only 8 plants in pots. No big deal.

Except, I have this problem with the space/time continuum. Despite my many years on the planet, during which the space/time continuum has never changed, I nevertheless assume this time that it will. It’s not a conscious assumption, mind you. It’s just that I continually think as if a minute can be both a real minute, sixty seconds, and yet elastic enough to accommodate tasks that easily take half an hour or even an hour, and still remain a minute.

Filling the gallon jug, measuring the fertilizer, going from the kitchen to the back yard to dispense the fertilizer, returning to the kitchen to repeat the process – several times – how could I ever think it would “only take a minute?”

Denial. It must be denial. I want to get started right away on writing. I want to get the fertilizing done early, so I guess I just compress the two in my mind as if in so doing I can make it so. But I can’t and it takes “waaay longer” than I expected and then I’m disappointed…

When really, all that’s happened is that once again, I’ve discovered I’m not God. (And a good thing or the Universe would have long ago spiraled out of control.)

Unlike God, I am bound to the space/time continuum and no amount of hoping or assuming or thinking is going to change that.

But I have to wonder… does anyone else do this? Or am I the only one?

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This post is in response to a WordPress Writing Challenge on the topic From Mundane to Meaningful. To learn more about the challenge and see some other entries, click here.

8 thoughts on “Me vs the Space-Time Continuum

  1. mylittlebub

    Yes, I totally do that! Very funny to read it from you though. I’ll see the whole new day stretching out before me as endless time to do what I need/want but then it’s 3pm and the time is lost and none of those things I planned on doing has happened.

    Reply
    1. karenhancock

      Yeah, that whole new day stretching before you with endless time… Exactly! What a mirage that turns out to be! —

      Reply
  2. Rebecca LuElla Miller

    Ugh! I used to do that constantly. Worse when I was teaching. I always thought I could get this set of papers graded before staff meeting or that work sheet run off at lunch, or make that phone call or pick up those trophies before the game or … you name it. I was always trying to fit more into the time allotted.

    I know part of it was not wanting to waste any time. In that respect, being a writer has helped because now I have a book with me all the time. If I have a few “spare” moments, I don’t try to start a project; I read instead.

    Becky

    Reply
    1. karenhancock

      Oh, reading is worse than anything, for me. I don’t dare even start — and especially not if it’s fiction! Once I pick up a novel, I never know when I’ll finally end up stopping. It could be hours. Or all day. The whole “just one more minute/chapter” , “this’ll only take a minute” ramps into high gear when it comes to reading!

      Reply
      1. Rebecca LuElla Miller

        Well, yes, there is that. I usually only do the reading thing when I am in a position to wait for someone. I used to delay getting ready, trying to squeeze out the last second for whatever task I was working on, then I was inevitably late because I had misjudged either the length of the task or the time I needed to get ready. Usually both. Now I allow myself enough ready time because if there are left over moments (what I’d always tried to avoid–I have no time to waste, after all! 😕 ), I can fill them with reading. But during the day, reading is not something I allow myself except on special occasions.

        Becky

        Reply
  3. Pingback: Cause and Effect « Writing from the Edge 2

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