Escaping the Hamster Wheel

By Stephan Grünewald (published in "Frankfurter Rundschau")

The first month of the New Year is already over, and with it the first decade of the new millennium. Many of us feel that we are unable to get a grip on time and that it is racing by ever faster. It seems that the speed of time increases with age. But looked at psychologically, time may not be as fleeting as we perceive – rather  we create this fleeting sense of time. We literally accelerate time. Indeed, deep down we harbour a great fear of time: fear of its uncertainty, fear of its risks and its dramas.

To dispel this fear, we are trying to kill time and spin it to death. We climb voluntarily into our hamster wheels and race from one appointment to the next, finding ourselves in a state of mindless activity. The hamster wheel keeps spinning, but its rotations remain predictable. Time turns steadily in the same old way, free of disturbing imbalances. Our hamster wheels keep us busy; they keep us from thinking and they keep unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs at bay by re-directing them through controlled fixed rituals. Thus, we feel reassured that nothing unpredictable can or will happen or even rouse us. The price we pay for this is high: We are kept busy but, nevertheless, feel that time is slipping through our fingers.

During childhood or adolescence we experienced time quite differently. Back then we were able to endure and savour time’s inherent drama. We switched continually between joyful euphoria and tearful sorrow. As teenagers we plunged into the adventure of being in love; enjoying its quivering euphoria and bitter poignancy. The rich sense of growth and excitement we experienced during this period extended our perception of time. Indeed, we are still able to spend hours talking about these times.

But with age we try to subdue time’s exciting drama. We ritualize our lives. We sacrifice the risk involved in growth for the expectation of security. That is why Sigmund Freud called the fixed points we construct throughout our lives as “intermediate stops on the way to death”. We strive to create some kind of balanced rest prior to resting eternally.

It is only possible to escape the sense that time is fleeting, if - as in younger years – we are ready to open up to time, to experiment and engage in the adventure of personal growth and development.

A first step to achieving this is to stop practicing the same old rituals, and to stop treading unconsciously in our hamster wheels. Stopping and taking a step back to view from a new perspective allows us to access time. It makes us open for unfulfilled desires, scatterbrain twists, for things we have always wanted to do, or for dreams we always wanted to pursue.

Pausing marks the starting point for growth. It not only makes us vulnerable, but it also makes time tangible. Indeed, only by taking a break are we able to get a grip on time.