Here in Maine, something odd happens in the middle of August, causing most of the population to experience a sudden low grade anger.
We’re all so damn busy these days, and we spend so much time indoors most of the year, that our somatic nervous systems get set in a pattern and take a long time to adjust to the feel and the pace of summer. I joke that we have a three-week summer season in Maine. That’s not far from the truth of what it feels like if we keep up our winter pace and habits through the summer.
In the second or third week in August, just as we’re beginning to slow down and experience the feeling and pace of summer (a feeling we’ve yearned for through the long, long, cold winter), we see the first red leaf of fall appear in a tree and it triggers a “WTF?!!!” moment when we realize that we’ve been rushing around so much that we haven’t experienced a real summer yet.
“Summer is almost over! Here comes WINTER!”
There’s a term for this sudden anger in Maine — it’s called getting “Mainegry”. For years I got Mainegry when I saw the first red leaf. The feeling goes much deeper for people like me who are from lower latitudes with much longer warm seasons.
After getting Mainegry for a few years, I developed a way to hack the space-time continuum, and suddenly, forcefuly, bend time so it’s
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Kirby Salisbury says:
This is a really effective technique and can become a way of life!
David Wagenblast says:
I completely agree that this method works. Tomorrow morning before the sun rises I’ll be leaving the rat race that is New Jersey and heading to our little bit of heaven, Flanders Pond, Sullivan, Maine. Although the trip (ten hours) is like h*(( the reward at the end is our little bit of heaven. Opening a closed, off grid cabin can take some time, and because ours is on a private island the work load is multiplied at leased 2x. But, knowing that every hour of travel and every hour of opening the camp brings me closer to island life makes it all worth it! Another thing that helps in this day and age is that we don’t have reliable cell service on the island. This really forces us to slow down and enjoy life.
No web, no calls, even if they have a problem at work, we are unreachable and that really stretches time. It doesn’t get better than an island in Maine!
David Wildermuth says:
Some real wisdom here, Steve. Thank you.
Joanne Moesswilde says:
It works!!!
Dave Bruce says:
Fully present gracefully, voila` … infinite timing… the k.i.s.s. of life, as in keep it simple.. A great Sunday morning muse : – )
Bill Baumner says:
Hi Steve,
Good article. My father in law who lived to 97, became a master at simplifying life to the extent of throwing out all invoices and financial statements which made it difficult for me to rectify his accounts.
Interestingly our forefathers didn’t have the problem of being inundated with mountains of trivia compliments of all screens. As their day ended, they settled down to unwind as nature was slowly closing down the day.
I used to hunt in the north west of Maine, 100 miles north of Montreal, with our guide, Buddy Daggett, a masterful woodsman. On day one, I carefully, quietly and slowly proceeded to take a deer stand. The first hour of no sounds, no birds, and no animals, of planes overhead or any sounds at all made the first hour feel like two days. I thought this was going to be a very long week. When I put my gun up, sat down and pulled out my sandwich, miraculously 2 Gorby birds appeared showing great interest in my lunch and very in threatened. By the middle of the week my powers of concentration had improved, and I had had a couple of days to think through, uninterrupted, all the accumulated thoughts on my mind. By the end of the week I loved being there alone, free of demands, rehabilitated, and the hour and the day not only seemed long but satisfying, full and so worthwhile. It was just amazing how restored, satisfied, and so thankful I had become just by shutting the world out so that life can become clearer and more fulfilling.
I do think we get ourselves into these messes by ignoring basic directives given us by our Creator as referenced in the Bible. When God rested on the 7th day of the week, an all powerful God didn’t need to do that for His Own benefit. He did it to show us just how vital it is for our own well-being. We need a day a week to shut out the world to renew our minds through injesting God’s high value words, making His thoughts our thoughts.
I remember a lesson in psychology 1, decades ago where 3 men were digging ditches. The first one dug 8 hours straight. The second one every three hours and the third one took breaks every hour. Result? The third man who took breaks every hour dug far more dirt than the other two. For those of us who love practical things because they work, we should really love God’s Word as revealing in a good study Bible with thousands of clarifying footnotes. I am 83 and am still finding out how to live.
Bill Baumner
Michael Malley says:
I also have my own way to mark the Sun’s travels each year. Living in Northern Vermont, I feel the need to appreciate the long days around the Summer Solstice, knowing that before long, we will be back to sunset just after 4 pm. This is my method. I get up before the Sun on the Solstice, and I’m on my bicycle, riding as the sun comes up. After a 20-25 mile ride, I return home to work on the long list of chores that have been waiting for good weather, and a long day. I always end the day, with a cold beverage, in my chair on the deck. From 40 years of practice, I know exactly where the last bit of the sun will drop down behind the hill several miles away. Savoring my beer, I know the sun will set just a bit to the left tomorrow, but I’m going to enjoy that I got my money’s worth today. Next year’s plan is to leave Vermont for New Zealand in December, and not return until March when the Sun has made his way north again.
R. Paul Smith says:
Thanks for these thoughts on making time move slower, Steve. This is a very important subject.
While I have not tried #1 (4am to 9pm), having recently retired (2 years ago), I have had the luxury of structuring how I use my time much more than when I was working. It has been WONDERFUL. One of my biggest concerns in the past was that I was constantly “context switching” throughout the day/week. Projects (too many of them) were broken up and intermingled. Now I have been able to dedicate two specific days a week (all day) to volunteering. Other days, I am trying to not start new projects before completing the current one, or at least a major phase of that current one at a natural break point. Many times I have looked back in the evening and realized that the beginning of the day was so long ago, and that so much progress has been made on a project, that I hardly remember the beginning (though, I suppose, it could be a memory thing😜). Time was “stretched”.
I am even more convinced these days that our multi-tasking approach to work and life is misplaced. Quality, not quantity! Thanks again for your prescription, Paul
Anthony Aman says:
Dear Steve,
I find your essay on time very timely. We often complain that we just don’t have enough time for all the things we want and need to do. The quantity of books that have been written on how to manage time would sink a schooner. If you need a book on how to manage your time, you probably do not have enough time to read it anyway.
I think this approach misses the point; it is not time we need to manage but rather, ourselves. As you suggest, interrupting the time/task continuum and inserting a gratifying time-warping activity (or non-activity) really does make a difference.
For myself, I manage my day by choosing goals from a list. At the beginning of each season, I list all the things I want to and have to do. I start by transferring all the items from last season’s list that I still feel are important to my new list. Sometimes, I make two columns; Wants and Needs. I then add all the things I accomplished between lists and immediately check them off. Finally, I add, “Make a list” and promptly check that off too. As the season progresses, I add more items and delete items that no longer seem important. It is quite gratifying to see the checkmarks accumulate as time flies by. At the very top of the list I add these words, “It will all get done, or it won’t!”
Scott Corner says:
https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/master-your-sleep-and-be-more-alert-when-awake
You’re on to something. Andrew Huberman explains some of the biology behind it in the attached episode. The rising and setting sun are a big part of it. Cheers!