Living in Lizard Standard Time

three weeks and counting into a sabbatical from nyc

Where folks are comfortable day-to-day, time dissolves. More challenging lives, otoh, bring a heightened awareness of time. All to say, one’s POV on past, present, and future are triangulated around how one senses the passage of time, which is a function of one’s material existence.

Being young and set-for-life affords the opportunity to think beyond tomorrow. To plan. To architect a destiny. The more well-off you are, the further-off you can live in the future. Kardashians and their ilk, like it or not, as a consequence of their wealth (and the work to preserve it), are pretty much in control of their fate.

The hard life, on the other hand, grounds folks in time-space that does not afford looking beyond tomorrow. And that’s if they’re lucky. Often in a desperate, defensive life, the down-n-out can’t afford to look beyond dinner.

Struggle, however, often leads to the strength and creativity that fuels survival. This is petty consolation, perhaps, but what keeps you alive is not the same as what lets you live. In a perfect world, survival is a foundation; living is…