The conductor of the youth symphony I was in during high school loved the saying "Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable." He was speaking with regard to getting to rehearsals in enough time to warm up before we actually started playing, but I find that the philosophy applies to most of my life. If I am scheduled to work at 8 AM, and I arrive at 7:59, I feel late. I feel rushed, sometimes for the rest of the day, even if there is nothing going on, and my day consists of sitting at the reference desk reading a book. I desperately need the extra 10 minutes I get when I arrive at 7:50 to get myself settled, to get my head in the work space for the day. Arriving early is a lot easier to do when you don't live 30 miles away on a busy freeway. I wish I could walk to work.
In elementary school, I would panic if the bus was running late enough to make me late to class. It wasn't like it was my fault, or anything I could have controlled, but still, I felt culpable and out of sorts. When my dad and I would go see a movie, especially if it was popular (which it usually was, since we only went to movies around the holidays) we would go really early, and then stand in line reading books. I sometimes think our family motto, were we to have one, should be: Never leave home without a book (because you will probably be early and need something to keep you busy!)
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