🎧 when the clock forgets to tick

Hi friends,

I’m trying something new today—I recorded a mini voice essay. Click the play button above and listen to ninety seconds of a piece titled “when the clock forgets to tick”. I hope you guys like it. Let me know in the comments please. What do you think? Do you want more of these?

The text is below:

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Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

When the clock forgets to tick

Have you ever had an experience that lasted ten minutes but felt like an eternity?

Maybe you frantically searched for your passport as boarding closed for your connecting flight. The attendants announce “last call” and an emotional procession begins in your body. The rush of hurried sweat. The nervous laughter. The muttered encouragement to soften the blow. 

Self-criticism and resignation grab the microphone: “Of course, this happens to me now”. Your shaky fingers scramble through the same pouch multiple times—each time, you know the passport is not there, but you need something for those anxious, impatient fingers to do. So you assign them work, useless work, but work that keeps them from shaking in your face and making you more worried.

Busy work. Like the nonsense theatre you do at your desk when your manager brushes behind you in the office. 

Or maybe you reach for the loving pet name you call yourself when you screw up. (Don’t pretend you don’t have one 😉) In my self-dialogue, I’m usually “Tobi”, but when I mess up I’m strictly “Tobias”. That’s because, in moments like this, “Tobiiii” sounds too similar to a friend welcoming me after a few years of distance. Its “eeee” sound is too warm and happy. After a screw up, I need the padding and cushion of a consonant that can take a few blows. That “s” is crucial. At least for a moment or two, before self-love stitches the wound.

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If you liked this piece, please let me know by liking or commenting below. Thanks for reading and listening 💛.