By the end of this week, living without clocks, it had got very frustrating. Asides from certain realisations which I will come to in a second, it is annoying and slightly wasteful (I think) to not know what time it is when trying to get certain things done.
The realisations:
Clock are everywhere - skype tells you what time it is, your phone tells you what time a text was sent, your answering machine tells you the time - all these clocks that I never usually notice (some of which are useful, or maybe all of which are useful but only some of the time)
Knowing the time can be useful - I knew this before I started, but it was only the debacle of Friday, where my partner had to tell me to leave to met a friend, then I thought I was going to be late, then ended up being early, when I thought I wish could just look at a clock. Asides from this one example, there was no other point in the week where I had to be somewhere at a certain time on my own accord, and that in itself is unrealistic. I also didn't have any trains to catch, meetings or work where I had to be somewhere at a certain point - not a usual situation.
Not knowing the time can be very disconcerting and liberating - not having a clock based structure to the day was a mixed bag - it was surreal and disconcerting at times, particularly as I obsess over time a lot, but it was also very freeing. I truly enjoyed not looking at the clock and comparing what time it was to what I thought I should have achieved by that point in the day. I was able to just get on with making and assess my day and my work objectively.
My reliance on clocks is , on the whole, unnecessary and seems often to cause me stress where it doesn't need to. I am questioning the need for a clock on my studio desk, on the wall in front of my desk at home, in my bathroom and so on. I feel that the visibility of time in my life is what causes me to focus on it and that is what I shall be reducing next.
My partner is away with work at some point over the summer, I may well try this experiment again then, without his alarm going off and pending arrival home from work as pointers in my day it may change things yet again.
The clockless life is the way forward...perhaps it suits certain ways of life more than others. 12 months living out of a van in huge vast open country made it easier....moving to a city and trying to adapt to the same principles becomes a lot harder....however you can (we have) adapt(ed)....no clocks in the house....just an alarm so we know when to leave for work!
ReplyDeleteLove all your work BH, keep it up! :)
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