Time

Have you ever noticed how time seems to drag when waiting for something, but flies by if you’re up against a deadline? It’s something that has always intrigued me.

We tend to think of time as being finite. It consists of seconds, which become minutes, which becomes hours, which becomes days, which becomes weeks, which becomes months, which becomes years and so on. We standardize it with atomic clocks, so it’s very, very accurate. Yet time seems variable in our minds depending on what we’re doing and what happens around us. In other words, time is relative.

Einstein had a theory about relativity. He actually had two theories, the Theory of Special Relativity and the Theory of General Relativity. Let’s focus on his theory of Special Relativity. It had four key components:

1. The speed of light (c) is constant in a vacuum, regardless of the observer’s motion.
2. Time dilation – Moving clocks run slower relative to stationary observers.
3. Length contraction – Moving objects appear shorter along the direction of motion.
4. Mass-energy equivalence – Expressed in E = mc², meaning energy and mass are interchangeable.

Let’s focus for a moment on his second component, Time Dilation. He said moving clocks run slower relative to stationary observers. If time is so finitely defined (i.e., seconds, minutes, etc), how can a moving clock appear to run slower to stationary observers. The key is time appears to run slower.

I’m no physicist and I can’t begin to explain exactly what happens with time as we observe it, but I do know that I experience time at different speeds. When I’m excited and waiting for something to happen, it seems like it takes forever. When I’m rushed for time or running late for something, the seconds and minutes seem to speed up. It’s because that’s the way I perceive time is happening around me.

I then wondered how our perceptions warp other things in our lives.

I have Myasthenia Gravis. On good days, I can hardly even tell it’s there. Sure, I have to take my meds as directed by my doctor, but I feel okay and I can go on with life as if MG wasn’t even there. On bad days, Myasthenia Gravis seems to control my life. It dictates what I can and can’t do. I tend to focus on it, perhaps even dwell on it.

So, if MG is based upon my perceptions, can I control it? To some degree I can. Let me jump back to time for a moment. When you’re anxiously awaiting something and it seems like time is crawling, what can you do to get through it? You can make yourself busy and time seems to speed back up. You’re no longer focused on the seconds and minutes ticking by; you’ve focused your mind on something constructive and time just came along for the ride.

Perhaps the same process may work with Myasthenia Gravis. When I’m having a bad day, maybe the key is to focus my mind on something else. That way I’m making MG come along for the ride instead of controlling the ride. If I focus on something constructive, maybe I can turn a bad day into an acceptable day, or maybe even a good day. It’s all about changing my focus and no longer living in MG time, but instead MG living in my time.

Time doesn’t seem to drag when I refocus my thoughts. MG doesn’t seem as bad when I stay focused on doing something constructive.

Maybe I’ve just come up with another theory: A = -(MG x W) where A equals Attitude, MG equals Myasthenia Gravis and W equals worry and the better my attitude, the less powerful MG and worry become.

Let’s give it a try. The next time you’re having a bad day, focus on something constructive and see how quickly your day turns around.