The Calendar Looms Over Us
Should the time of year matter? Some thoughts on the subject just in time for my birthday.
June is my favorite month. But is also scares me. There’s no logical reason for either of these feelings.
June is the month of my birth, so it has a personal meaning to me. As a youngster, it was thrilling to look forward to my birthday, and later to the last day of school. Vacations start in June, along with summer – in the northern hemisphere. Fathers Day is celebrated this month, another June day I look forward to.
June is also the anniversary of two very tough days for me: My accident in 2015 that resulted in 6 broken bones among other injuries, and which required 10 months of physical rehabilitation. My life changed once more a year later when I was unceremoniously let go from the employer I had worked with for over 23 years.
Yet June remains a favorite month.
What’s scary to me about June is that by it’s end, half the calendar year will be over. So I start panicking; What did I accomplish so far this year? Am I on track with my yearly goals? What have I not yet gotten around to doing?
I find it helpful to stop and notice these feelings, and to realize this: The calendar, while a helpful tool, need not loom over me.
June is just a name we give these particular 30 days at this time of the calendar year, which itself is only an approximation of the orbital period of our planet. I suppose I have a love/hate relationship with calendars. We use them to mark anniversaries both good and bad. We use them for planning and setting unreasonable deadlines. We allow the calendar to give our lives rhythm, and at the same time to dominate our waking hours.
I can recognize all these conflicting feelings, and set them aside. In the end, I’m looking forward to the rest of the month – especially my birthday. It may be an arbitrary day, but it’s mine; my very own piece of the looming calendar. I’ll take it. ◼︎
