Friday 16 December 2011

TIme is of the essence


The time and space paradigm is such a funny thing. 

For some relationships, time and space have (almost) zero effect. There are some people in your life where it doesn’t matter how much time has passed between the two of you, that when you do see each other, it’s like no time has passed at all. That’s not to say that your relationship is stagnate; space allowed you both to grow as individuals, and it may not have necessarily been in the same direction but for some reason - even though you two weren’t exactly the same as the day you first met- things have stayed the same. Time has treated it like fine wine- the older it gets, the better it gets; even if you don’t drink from that bottle every day.

There are some relationships, however, where time does serious damage. They may call on feeling neglected if you haven’t seen them in several weeks; claiming no effort was made on your part despite talking to them on a daily basis. So (physical) absence has not made the heart grow fonder in this case. In fact the more time invested has lead to more arguments. Why is that? Surely spending more time engaging with these kinds of relationships are meant to help you ‘get to know’ a person better? Time has treated it like a bottle of Pepsi – if you don’t keep a tight lid on it, air gets in and after a couple of hours, it goes flat. But if you tightened the lid properly every time you drank from it, it would still have that fizz. It’s extra tricky because you like to drink it more frequently since it is a fun drink.  But if you were to consume it on a daily basis, it would be bad for you and could affect your health and overall well being.

Why can’t all relationships be like a big bottle of water? (I’m getting the feeling that I’m just really, really dehydrated as I’m writing this; I have no idea why I’m using drinks as my examples. But they seem to be fitting, so I’ll go with it.) Cool, refreshing, and while no, you wouldn’t solely like to drink it every day due to lack of variety in flavoring, if you did consume it on a daily basis it would not do any damage to you or your health. Time has no effect on it- you can leave it in the bottle for months/years or leave the lid loose but it would still taste the same. There are different brands of water available but if you really look at it- it’s still the exact same product. When you go without water for a long time, you tend to appreciate it more when you get to drink it, and you guzzle it down.

Perhaps these are all best consumed in rotation and moderation so that you get the right balance in life. The key here is to remember the different effects these people have on you so that you can handle yourself properly if you are ever faced with excess exposure; this way you get the best results even in the worst situations. 

Drinks anyone? 

-Marie