Thirty Years
If I had to time travel thirty years into the past--which is within my own lifetime, mind you--I would not be able to fit in. If for no other reason (and there would be other reasons), I would seem incredibly hyperactive and attention deficit.
The question is, would I be able to shed all the multi-tasking, phone-checking, can't-sit-still behaviors I've developed just to keep up with this world? Could I sink with relief back into the slower pace?
Or would I be unable to assimilate? Would I move to New York and do one of those jobs everyone needed cocaine to keep on top of--but I probably wouldn't at this point? I have a feeling your average connected 20-something now is firing on more cylinders than a top exec of decades past--and all just to keep up with their social networks and obligations.
And that's not even adding in the layers and layers of stress-coping mechanisms I've developed in a day job whose pressures increase exponentially quarterly with no commensurate give anywhere. (This is a situation that the employed find themselves in a lot in this recession, I'm given to understand. This is also a widespread phenomenon.)
Bleah, she said as she tried to settle down and really focus on her manuscript.
The question is, would I be able to shed all the multi-tasking, phone-checking, can't-sit-still behaviors I've developed just to keep up with this world? Could I sink with relief back into the slower pace?
Or would I be unable to assimilate? Would I move to New York and do one of those jobs everyone needed cocaine to keep on top of--but I probably wouldn't at this point? I have a feeling your average connected 20-something now is firing on more cylinders than a top exec of decades past--and all just to keep up with their social networks and obligations.
And that's not even adding in the layers and layers of stress-coping mechanisms I've developed in a day job whose pressures increase exponentially quarterly with no commensurate give anywhere. (This is a situation that the employed find themselves in a lot in this recession, I'm given to understand. This is also a widespread phenomenon.)
Bleah, she said as she tried to settle down and really focus on her manuscript.