As this term of school and this term of life stretch on, it can become difficult to keep track of the days. The usual rhythms by which we mark our lives are upended and setting routines for ourselves is one of the most highly recommended courses of action we have in order to endure. Even so, sometimes you may find yourself breaking away from self-discipline and instead floating around in a nebulous space of time.
Though nowadays it may seem more so than ever, time can be very difficult to hold onto and has been that way for a while. In the Abrahamic traditions, it is written that God created the Earth in seven days, but the definition of a day might not have been 24 hours. According to Hindu philosophies, time is cyclical, eternal, and sometimes degenerative. For Muslims who were marking their days according to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the beginning of Ramadan shifts our pace as meals are thrown to opposite ends of the day, and night transforms from a time to sleep into a time to work and pray.
For any of us confronting the difficulty of keeping track of time, for anyone who woke up on Thursday thinking it was Monday, for anyone who thought the bread they were baking had been in the oven for an hour when it was really just ten minutes, it is ok to feel a little offbeat. It is ok to stray from routine if you need to. Be safe and catch yourself if it goes too long, but it is ok if you need a second to scrap your schedule entirely and to give yourself permission to let go. As we witness spring’s sequence of rain and shine, I hope we are all able to exert self-compassion as we go through cycles of our own.
Iman Jafri ’15
Associate Chaplain for Muslim and Interfaith Life