Time FLIES. Time literally flies like an arrow. If you cannot agree with this bold statement, probably you are too exhausted, bored, or fed up with all the trivia happening around you. Or maybe--and luckily--you are still young enough. I can make this assumption because I was very much the same when I was young.
When I was in elementary school, I always thought adults are liars who always say "time flies, you have to well-manage your time before you miss everything" as the hands of a clock barely moved whenever I stared at them. When I was in middle school, I still could not agree to that 'flying-time' theory. Similar things happened again and again every day; I had to listen to similar classes, submit similar assignments, chat with same people with similar topics, and walk back home with the exact same route. However, I began to feel the difference when I entered high school. Time suddenly started to speed up. Even though the daily routine was always the same as it was in the middle school, I realised that each day of my high school life held significant importance because I will become an adult all of a sudden. I will be forced to head out to the world with nothing but my abilities and achievements I accomplished through my adolescence. Time, on the spur of the moment, transformed into a cheetah from an armadillo.
Time accelerated even more when I entered college. Since the very first day of my university life, time started to fly like an arrow. Even though I did a lot of things that day, I still felt like I meaninglessly wasted another day of my life. Well, but I am not saying that I did not enjoy my university life and merely spent the entire time anxiously complaining about the idleness of time. In fact, I had so much fun and I achieved a lot of things. I started learning Arabic and Spanish, I made so many friends from all over the world, I experienced the genuine European culture, and I tried the things I would have never tried when I stayed in Korea (such as drinking wine around noon with fifteen friends in the middle of the park).
And as every happy story does, here comes the tragic part: COVID-19 hit. I had to go back to Korea in the middle of my second semester and continue my study through online classes. That continued for more than a year; I had to stay up late due to time difference, I had to do everything through Zoom and Google Drive--which are good but still worse than the face-to-face discussions--and I had no choice but to merely text and call my friends in order to maintain the precious friendship I constructed throughout my first year of college. It was very difficult for me in the beginning. I felt isolated from the discussions happening in classrooms. I had hard time adapting to the way how professors sound through microphones and how I sound when I speak to the entire class through speakers. My biorhythm was totally destroyed as I had to stay up late and wake up when the sun rises in order to submit my assignments and catch up with workloads. Although I adapted quite quickly and maintained my good work for the rest of the year, that period of my life still resides in my memory as a tough time.
But you know what? The COVID-19 pandemic actually taught me a great lesson: time flies, but that does not mean you have to be anxious and jittery all the time. The worldwide lockdown worked as a brake for all of us. We had to stop doing many things that we normally did every single day, adjust our social boundaries and begin narrowing it down to the most essential ones, and stay longer in our houses without spending time in many different places. Although these were the exact reasons why many people suffered a lot during the pandemic, I personally took it as a great opportunity to rethink about the concept of 'time'. In the beginning of the lockdown, this was my exact thoughts (I wrote this down in my notebook when I was quarantined after coming back to Korea): FML I have so many things to do and I planned to achieve lots of things in the upcoming semester but now I am in this stupid quarantine and the entire world has just stopped, what should I do? However, as time passed by, my thoughts began to change: Wait, it is not just me taking a long break, it is the whole world pausing for a moment! It is not MY fault!
Yes, it was all about the mindset. Simply acknowledging the fact that time is a limited resource does not dictate you to feel impatient all the time even though you have been spending the time you had in the past with enthusiasm and passion. If something out of your reach unexpectedly stops you from maintaining your routine, what else can we do then obeying it and using it as a great opportunity to take a break and recharge ourselves? If you were continuously trying to make the best of use of the time you possess in the last two decades, that is it. There is no need for you to keep being stressed and pressure yourself as if you are not appreciating the incredible velocity of time. Just do not forget that clock is ticking 24/7 as the sun rises and sets every day. THAT is what is important, and THAT is what you have to care.