Time Traveled

Notes from a social media Cyrano.

Time. A noun. Verb. Adjective.
We don’t have time. Oh, we’ll make the time.
We spend time, save time, buy time.
Are we living on borrowed time? People give us their time. Really?
But we took the time. Will I be on time? Well, at least, we made good time.
What time is it? In real time. Oh, time’s up. Is it all a waste of time?

All in good time.
But time waits for no one. Time marches on.
What’s time does it start?

Time’s ticking away. Time flies.
Time sensitive, stamp, warp– crunch.
Is it good timing or bad?
Oh, there’ll come a time.
It’s just a matter of time. Time after time. Any time at all.
Somewhere in time. They didn’t get there in time.
Is time on our side? Is there enough time?
If you could just save time in a bottle. . .
Time isn’t holding us; time isn’t after us.
But, we’re running out of time.

Does anybody really know what time it is? Is time an illusion?That’s exactly what I hear all the time.  

Time is on my mind—can you tell? It’s front and center as I face the half-century mark in a matter of weeks, in fact. Somehow 50 years on this earth is poignant and powerful—especially since events of the past couple of years have completely taxed my resilience, heart, faith and very existence. I keep thinking there is something on the other side this personal and professional chaos— a sort of rebirth or even anagnorisis, as the protagonist might have in ancient Greek tragedy. You know that frightening feeling when you get swept away in a wave at the beach—and for those few harrowing moments in time, seemingly suspended, you have no idea which way is up, nor if you will find your way to the surface?

Age 50 would be a more than poetic time to find my way to the surface, don’t you think? Gandhi discovered at 50 his real mission in nonviolent resistance, and Cervantes was older than that when he began his career as a novelist. As Nietzsche said, “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”

Speaking of time, it’s been a long time since I wrote my own blog. Funny how it works—when you develop an expertise, especially a non-traditional one, you often end up doing it for someone else. I write for others now. I guess you could say I’m a ghost blogger – a sort of social media Cyrano. It’s an interesting role to play—creating the authentic voice of another—in particular a business—a bit like acting. The goal is to humanize the corporate persona in a social media stratosphere. Gotta admit that it’s a challenge managing the tightrope of “corporate transparency”—kind of an oxymoron–and the real time attention required in the brave new world of instant gratification.

In the early days of advertising, businesses traded money for exposure, and today, in the new media world, we trade money for time. Real time.  Some tasks are automated, but it’s difficult to automate authenticity.

In fact, so many of my clients say, “I just don’t have the time for this.” And they are right. It’s like living a double life—the online persona and the business pro.
But with more than 600 million Facebook users,  somebody has time!

So really, it’s not about time.
It’s about the value of the experience–and the joy. It’s about connection and the fun.  A recent poll by Priority Management, Inc. had an answer.  In a lifetime, the average American will spend:

• 6 months sitting at stoplights
• 1 year looking for misplaced objects
• 2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls
• 7 years waiting in line

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs tells us that a sense of belonging is just above safety and security. And, the irony is – we can’t self- actualize alone. So, enter social media. Even if it’s electronic, it’s human connection and the ability to feel part of something. It’s a new kind of relationship reality. So, I guess time is not as important as choice.

It’s about choices we make. Personal choices. So many choices, and just where does the time go?