“Youngen” – Our Perception of Time Needs to Change; and Maybe We’ll be More Productive & Happier
I don’t know if you’re British like I am, but here in England we sometimes use the phrase “youngen” to describe someone who’s young, typically under 18 years old. Today, this phrase was used on me. At work, I was serving a customer and he said, “Hiya, youngen”. Then later on, in the street, a lady said to me “thanks, kid.” Now, I am over twenty years old, so to be called a youngen and a kid, seems quite odd to me. I’m not a kid…
But then again, I am though, aren’t I? At least to some people. I’ve only lived twenty years, I’m not old. I’m still learning what life is. To me, I only feel old when I consider the fact that I’ve been out of college for two years and that I’m not in education anymore. That I have to pay rent and organise my life now.
Except, that doesn’t mean squat! What do those things matter? I’m still fresh out of nappies! Still wobbling about through life with no clue what’s going on, like a kid does! The problem with our world is time and labels.
If I told you that it’s 7pm, what would you think? “It’s late. It’s the end of the day. Time for dinner. Might as well get in my PJs for bed.” Right? Well that’s because time and labels told you that, not because it’s fact. If there was no clocks, or calendars, we wouldn’t be so bothered about what we do and when. We wouldn’t be like, “oh sh*t it’s 7pm and I’ve done nothing of value today”, we’d instead be like “you know what, I fancy writing a blog post, so I’m going to do that now…”
See where I’m going with this? I think that it is our perception of time that messes us up. We don’t do things because it’s too late, or it’s considered wrong, or because we don’t have enough time. But time is relative. There’s just now. NOW doesn’t need any other label apart from NOW. When will I do such-and-such? NOW! What’s the best time? NOW! Obviously, there is a need for time labels. We have to work and go to school and catch showings at the cinema, but in other areas, we shouldn’t focus so much on what time means to us as imposed upon us by the Romans and such. Instead just do what we want and what feels right.
The same works for age, I believe. I got scared about turning twenty, because I felt like my youth was gone. I’m not young. I can’t be silly. I can’t be a kid anymore. But that’s also not the case. It is the label that makes me feels that way, not reality. Because in reality, I’m plenty silly when the time calls for it. I have responsibilities, but I’m also lucky enough to still have my mother to help me out! I’m still young. If we didn’t label our ages, would things be different? Hell yeah!
Do you think you’d cry about being thirty if you didn’t know you were thirty? Say we didn’t record our birthdays, and therefore we didn’t know how old we was. When it came to turning thirty, but we didn’t know it, we would just carry on as normal, wouldn’t we? We’d do what we want, when we want. We’d only feel saddened by “being old now”, when our bodies begin to lose certain functions, by which time we’re more likely to be forty-fifty-sixty, as long as we’re not highly unhealthy.
This was just some food for thought. Time is such a grand concept that we will probably never truly get our heads around it, but I for one would like to try and concentrate less on time. Try not to go to bed at eleven because it’s night time, but instead go to bed when I’m tired. To not get up because it’s morning, but get up because I want to do such-and-such (or have work!) To not think “oh I can’t do that right now, it’s late”, but just do it instead! And most importantly, to just go with the flow of life rather than worrying that time is passing me by and I’m getting older. If we allow ourselves to concentrate on time too much, we’ll lose it. Remember, time is relative. That’s why Summers feel so short, and Winters feel so long.
~ Damsel
