"Perception of TIME"

Yesterday, I went to Long Island from Queens. Those who are living in the New York City, they must be aware of how traumatic this travel can be. There is no a directorate , let's say it is a challenging trip. It took me approximately 3 hours in total going and coming back. The reason of my trip was a business meeting that I had. It was with a potential client who was in penetrating the market locally in New York and then expand in Europe. His was in the field of training & development many Executive Coaching.

When I was being this story to a fried he looked at me as if I was crazy. He said and I quote: "Was this long tiring travel worth it to for a meeting that you didn't even know that if it would have been a win and a closed deal?” My answer was very simple. “How could I have known whether it was going to be a successful trip, if I haven't done the trip? In June 2107 I have travelled to Washington again to meet a prospective client. I didn't know the result back the either, but that prospective client is one of my best associates and friends in politics. We must go that extra mile, or else we won't know what is around the corner. At least this is what I have learned since I was born. Never stop taking risks and exploring. Maybe I should work for the national geographic, don't you think? :)

Let's go back to my story. On my way back from Long Island towards Manhattan, I have had a throwback of myself, when I was 5 years old. I remember myself sitting on the back seat in our old car. We were traveling from Timi, our village in Paphos on our way to Limassol. I remember vividly me watching the trees, feeling the summer breeze and sun touch warmly my face. It is so vivid as if It is happening now. It was such a hot day. We couldn't afford you see to have an air condition in the car. It was a luxury item for us. I was sweating and thirsty, so I put my head near the window so I could get so me fresh air. I don't know why but I always liked having my face near the window, even now. The air "clears" my mind and it is helping in "tighting" up my thoughts. Even my emotions are purified and purged from my mind, just like a catharsis of my mind.

My sister was sitting next to me. She is 3 years older than me, but I it felt that she was younger sister. I was protecting her. We had an amazing moments together. While I was feeling the breeze and the sun, I was watching the trees passing by and I was wondering: “The trees that are passing they are leaving us behind, are they leaving us for good without that moment that we left not coming back? Are they just disappearing within a second without coming back? Permanently and forever? Is one second powerful enough to make the trees disappear? What is the meaning of this timeframe exactly? Why does it make things vanish? What if I want to undo something and watch again the exact same tree at the same moment?"

I was feeling so confused and asked my Dad: "Dad, if we go back to those trees we have passed by, does it also mean that we can travel back in time? Can we live the same moment and see exactly the same tree just like it was a few minutes before?" My Dad laughed as he was used to my "weird" questions unlike others. My sister said "Here we go again... Jesus, can't you just stop thinking for a while?" I pretended that I haven't heard her and I was anticipating my Dad’s answer. He was looking at me from the car's side mirror. My Dad is brunette, not very tall and when he was young he looked like Demetris Papamichael, a Greek actor. He was and still is my hero.

Then my Dad said: “Nadia, past is what we did few minutes ago, what we are doing now is called the present and what we are going to do in 5 minutes is called future." I felt amazed! So is this what we use to call 'division of time'?

"Who is the Boss of time Dad? Who made this division?" Although dad is not a very religious person due to the fact he is a philosopher, obviously he had to say something in order to answer my question. "I guess the God, Nadia”, he said. Then I laughed and whispered so they won't get mad at me: "Which God, the one that left my grandpa die? I don’t like that God or his time division. I will have my own time division." That was the moment that I wanted to change time and the world. I have had just lost my favorite grandad Nicolas and that triggered my curiosity around time and that “tree moment” was the moment that has left its stigma in my life.

I was always in a constant research of the meaning of time. It was a big matter to me and around the age of 12, I read the 'Theory of relativity' of Einstein. I still remember the train experiment. Of course at that age, I couldn't understand much. So, what is Time, my dear readers? During my working period in our New York offices the last days, that memory became more intense in my mind. Everything is moving so fast here, while at the same time everything is moving much slower in other parts of the world. Does this mean that time changes based on which country we live? Does it depend on what job we do or how happy we are? Everyone is on the big run. Running to get the train, running for that important appointment, running to meet friends and then get back at home on time, running, running and more running… When do we pause? When do we stop? The awkward thing is that as a writer, I am a very good observer but I caught myself being at the same position as the others: Feeling rush, run to get everything done and feel stressed that TIME is not enough, despite the fact I have managed to master my time the last years.

Yesterday at Long Island I had to wait an hour to get the train. I have decided to walk a little bit in Sayville. Everything was very peaceful, there was no traffic and were fewer people. At that moment it hit me again: Time in Sayville was even slower! Wow! So when there is less noise and fewer people, then does time move slower?

Sitting at the only Starbucks I found there, I started writing this article. I felt the urge to share my thoughts with you and have your feedback, unless I'm the only curious person around time and its weird mind-blowing games.

If we conclude that TIME that might be defined by few factors:

·?????The intense of our activities

·?????The kind of our job and the pleasure we get.

·?????An environment with too much or too little noise

·?????Too many goals

·?????Places that are too crowded or less crowded

·?????How many things we need to do within the day

Then maybe we can define and divide our time based on our priorities and the things we want to do. The important thing is to be able to PAUSE and reevaluate the things you need to do or you really want from life. Then we should value correctly our TIME and use it for our best benefit and not for the benefit of others. TIME is all about programming our LIFE. Time is relevant to LIFE. I am a very energetic person, I think you have understood that already. That’s one of the many reason that I love New York. But what happens at that very moment that you are feeling stressed and you don't even know why? That moment that you feel TIME is not enough and you need more time? But you need more time for WHAT? For closing more deals? Closing more book promotions? More coaching clients? More traveling? All I have to say is that the crazy chase of time will never stop! What will stop one day is our own life! I may sound dramatic, but this is the truth.

I have a question for you: What is about to happen if you close that important deal tomorrow instead of now that is already 20:00pm and you are feeling exhausted? You might loose the deal? Maybe, but will that ever stop? What is about to happen if you pause for a while and go home to your wife and enjoy your evening with a glass of wine, doing NOTHING? -Another one tip, talking about family, when you go home before open the door, breathe and ask yourself if you want a pleasant day with your family or unpleasant. Then , inhale and exhale all the "work" troubles outside your house-. That sounds odd for you, doesn't it? I know this feeling because I have already been there, and if I get there again, I will use my #3Rules (you can read more details about this rule in my article “Can you keep a secret?” https://www.thriveglobal.com/stories/14779-can-you-keep-a-secret) or in LinkedIn.

We tend to run so fast and we forget to relax and sit back doing NOTHING. Actually you are not doing nothing but you are enjoying YOUSELF! I have met many people that work all day, focus on money and they are alone, they have no husband/wife or family… You should question yourself: What do you want from life? Just money, in order to share them with who? If , yes then what is your WHY. When I coach people asking for financial guidance, I usually ask them two questions. 1) How much money you need? 2) Why do you need that much money? Most of them they don't have an answer.

Having some bucks less, will that make a big difference? Think about that. Has anyone said that since we master our own time, if we manifest and control our time based on our real needs then we will be earning less money? No! On the contrary, you will earn money and remind yourself to dedicate some moments in doing NOTHING. It is not about how many hours you are working, but how much productive you are even if that ,means working less hours.

Promise to me and yourself that this weekend you will pause and do NOTHING but enjoying yourself and your loved ones. But enjoy it to the fullest: no emails or Instagram or Twitter or Facebook! I know this sounds hard, but my point is not stop doing what we like to do, but just pause for a while and enjoy doing nothing. Just breathe and SEIZE the moment! From the moment that I managed to manifest my own time, it felt like a breakthrough especially when I realized what time is and what defines it. I will be watching you in the weekend! :) And please let me know where I should spend my weekend in New York, doing NOTHING at all. The most important question though to ask ourselves, is what we want from our life? What makes our heart sing. Then, time is our best friend and not an enemy.

Thank you

Nadia Themis

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