Anxiety Caused By The Passage Of Time
Time never ceases to be an incredible paradox. On the one hand, it is nothing more than a human invention. Perhaps one of the most useful, but also one of those to which we are most enslaved.
It also often happens that, when we need it to pass quickly, it does the opposite; while in the most beautiful moments, its speed accelerates. The seconds flow slowly when we are in the waiting room, while they fly when we are having dinner with friends and we are having fun.
Whether for one reason or another, his gait or his simple existence easily translate into impatience, agitation and anxiety. An anxiety which is combined with fear and foresight. Because we all know that we cannot control everything that will happen, just as we know that in all probability not everything that the future has in store for us will be positive. Life, however much you try to predict it, will sooner or later be unpredictable.
The watch that killed the miner
We tell you a little story. A story about a group of men trapped in a mine, with no way out. Fortunately, they were able to communicate the situation externally, and are therefore waiting to be rescued. After evaluating the situation, they are told that it will take at least three hours to clear the mine exit and rescue them.
On the other hand, the same explosion that blocked their exit also put the roof at risk, and there is a danger that it could collapse over their heads at any moment. On their faces you can see the reflection of fear, the threat of a new collapse. They are experienced miners and they know very well that it would take very little to bury them under a ton of rocks.
Of all the trapped miners, only one of them owns a watch. This miner is continually asked what time it is, until the leader of the miners decides to do something to be able to handle the growing collective anxiety. He then asks the owner of the watch to inform the group about the time only at each hour change, and orders his companions not to ask him for anything.
Eventually, the rescue team finds a way to enter the mine. Little by little they manage to recover all the miners, except the owner of the watch, who died of a heart attack.
How did this happen? Because that was the only miner who was allowed to be in contact with the source of anxiety, and he was, therefore, the only one whose anxiety had risen to very high levels. Furthermore, time never passed for him, and he ended up consuming his own life.
What can we learn from this story?
That time stops when we stare at it intensely and that, on the contrary, it runs when we peek at it from time to time. Miners who didn’t have a watch had nothing to do but focus their thoughts on anything other than the passing of the hands, and could then focus on what they would do once they got out of there.
Conversely, the miner with the watch who was not rescued could not help but focus on his source of anxiety. Because of the clock, his mind had done nothing but watch the minutes go by, a gesture that had helped to increase his state of anxiety, to a level that his body could not bear.
When there is a risk of time becoming an anxious stimulus, it is up to us to choose whether to be the miner with the clock or those without. We can decide if we want our mind to focus on the passage of time or if, instead, we want it to shift its attention to more pleasant and, above all, less distressing thoughts.
