i touched grass

[ArtichokeHunter]

plant ID has been huge for me in connecting to place and appreciating the change of seasons and finding wonder in the world and honestly getting exercise and fresh air. sometimes it's a dominant reason to look forward to the future.

[oddsockable]

The end of univeristy coincided with the beginning of the pandemic for me, and I've definitely been somewhat at sea in time ever since. I think one of the ways I became more aware of time was being very attuned to when sunset was, because it dictated whether or not I could walk round my local motorway-adjacent-field when I finished work. Also, at this time of year, me and my dad have a competition to see who can spot the first daffodils (we used to live in Wales, where daffodils are a Big Thing).

[HM]

I just love when a new video of yours comes out, it’s like getting a notification that says “hey, time to contemplate and reflect buddy!” In terms of sense of time, I left Instagram last year and started returning only for a monthly drop of my favourite photos - so that’s become a real marker of time passing, and a calendar scrapbook.

[MattPalka]

Psssh, silly made-up time. You reminded me why at conferences I love sitting in the hotel lobby. To be in an experience rather than just at it. Instead of being in my room, like in my bedroom, I could sit inside the experience and see it. Attention can lead to more depth, which more plants my sense of time in the now. To thrive on deeper small moments. We live in the middle of small and ongoing ones. I see beginnings and endings more, even in myself with sunk cost choices. I think this is why I love gratitude journaling and capturing the small daily moments, as well as looking back at each year for the current date.

It's fascinating to see myself become over almost 9 years of daily journaling. Still pieces of me I can see from the past. Two years ago today I just began Parable of the Sower. Not every day can stun and amaze and some days surge more. We really live in the middle. I looked recently at the Tuataria Discord journal entry six years ago when a dozen people first talked on voicechat. What a beginnin bud that I more appreciate now.

[heyainsleymae]

Time has definitely blurred for me in the last few years, and I deeply relate to the "wash of weekdays" you described. I also finished university when the pandemic began like someone else mentioned, and getting a job didn't seem to slow the rush of weeks and months; finding those small, memorable moments to mark the days helps me find a sense of place and time, and I don't do that enough. This video served as my reminder to search out more of those small moments (and to take classes at and visit the botanical garden!).

[zmanzono]

This kind of feeling is why I was so excited to study parks. That aspect of community while also connecting with nature, and there are so many benefits to being in greenspace in this way like in attention restoration theory.

[mimirobin]

i spent so much time as a kid in the countryside at the farms of relatives and the changing colours of fields, the growing of crops was so essential for me to understand time passing. 3 years ago i moved to Berlin (from Hamburg, , and before that, Coventry) which, as a city, stretches out so much further and hence is so much harder to get really "out" of, the only time I see a field now is when I travel, for work or to see my parents, maybe 5 times a year and it still always hits with a pang, like I missed a part of a year, a part of the year that the city stole from me

[SylviaRustyFae]

I wudnt say its quite the same cuz i do still feel connected to time somewhat... But ive def spent about the last few yrs, and esp the last two come may, forgettin how i used to track time and forgettin the schedules and all the rest

Apr 2020 i took leave from my job cuz they werent gonna make everyone mask up any time soon at walmart. They screwed me over and fired me by claimin i nvr put in my leave of absence. Id alrdy grown to love bein away from work and that just gave me freedom.

I cudnt find work ofc, cuz covid and all, but i didmt even look cuz i was havin too much of a good time touchin grass and gettin to know my community in ways i hadnt before

I came to truly love the cherry blossoms of Salem (OR)'s streets, i came to love the smells of the city that id not let myself notice much before, i came to enjoyin that beautiful state id not rly taken much notice of before except on the rare occasion out deep in the woods ofc...

I discovered so many forested liminal spaces where i cud just disappear from the city and have it just enuf in the distance to sometimes forget all its noise and lights which can overwhelm me so much i forget how much i love Salem. And i also went out and protested cuz i had the time now, and i volunteered when there was a call to action to protect the community (mostly stuff like bringin food and ppe to the homeless or volunteerin at temporary warming shelters so they actually cud be open) and i found a community that truly supported each other as much as they cud

And thanks to them (and from other friends ofc; but truly my fellow activists covered the vast majority), i made my $400/m rent for the next yr and a half until movin to live with a long distance partner, now fiance (i rented a room from friends, they gave me as cheap as they cud afford; forever thankful for all of these kinds of ppl in my life who gave me support when my biofam wudnt)

And now here livin with my fiance (and metamour), my exp of time got slashed even more as theres no longer some distant future where i have to work a 9-5 again; which means for the foreseeable future i can touch grass for the rest of my life. My fiance is extremely awesome and doesnt want me to ever work again and can afford to provide for both of us, and my metamour.

Honestly, he gets a bit of a kink out of playin sugar mommy (yes mommy, yes he; gender is confusin sometimes heh) in this way to me :3

Bcuz he supports me like this tho, ive instantly found myself fallin in love with our particular slice of the midwest... Id always feared id nvr love a place as much as i loved Oregonian, esp moreso when i started seein it in full colour all the time instd of dimmed as i had seen it much of my life.

But here i am in [city redacted] lovin this place and findin it to have just as awesome of a community as well, and the wooded liminal spaces; while the trees arent so tall; are still just as relaxin and comfortin and freein. And here, theres a little extra bonus on top of all that stuff; here im somewhere around 2k miles from my past abusers back in Oregon.

That last bit is truly the loveliest part, and is a large part of why id def say [CR] is more my home city than Salem ever was; even if ill forever be an Oregonian, and sometimes a homesick one at that

[oluOnline]

"I wanted to feel like I lived in this city and not just at it" i can't walk far and/or stand for super long at the minute - v flat feet, fingers crossed for my podiatry appointment making a difference - but when i either can again or when i find a replacement way around i'll be doing the same. i've been trying to make hyperlocal friends (through the apps, but shh) and comrades too!

I never had issues with not feeling like time is passing, it usually feels very fast to me, but i am glued to my devices and it was usually the twitter accounts that document the year's passage as a percentage that kept me strapped in so we'll see this year!

[silliepixie]

Time passes in flowers and fruit. Enjoying these things as they are in season has really made me feel like I am living my life fully.

[rrrosecarbinela]

Hugs. I feel with you. As a retiree, I have no sense of time other than knowing when wednesdays are, because I have a steady scheduled event on wednesdays. I like the idea of a garden to visit (I'm no gardener myself). We go to National Wildlife Refuges a lot, though, which is very restorative.

[Mallory-Malkovich]

I'm not sure why, but time has always felt very solid to me. Like, I have those moments where you think it's Thursday when it's really Tuesday, but the passage of minutes and days and years feels inexorable to me, like I have clockwork inside that is turning along with the planet rotating. Don't get me wrong, time still flies when I'm having fun, and boring meetings (or lockdowns) can feel like they take forever, but since that day in 1st grade when I figured out how to read the clock, time has been a constant, measured thing for me, like a heartbeat. Now if only I could remember who I am or what I'm doing!

[awakatilluminado]

Nature is healing, I'm glad you are out there in the botanical garden :)

I can't keep up with time on a day to day basis, my life and work is very inconsistent so i mostly go by the seasons. It's p much been like that since i stopped working standard work weeks years ago. I like it better this way, my time is processed through what I'm experiencing rather than a rigid capitalist system

[Elientjepientje.]

Time does not feel real for me. I think having depression for at least ten years changed the way I feel about time. It feels like it is going very fast and very slow at the same time. I also live life at a different pace than other people. Some things take me way more time and some things make me feel old compared to the people around me. My memory is also not great, so that makes my sense of time even more weird. I feel like i have been alive for so so long, but i can only remember the last five years. I don't mind it that much. I just never know what day of the week it is and time has no meaning. I do really like seing the seasons change though. It's very comforting to see nature doing it's thing

[joeymason]

Really thoughtful and lovely as always! I am a very burnt out, soon-to-be college graduate, and I am very tired of significant landmarks and resets. Right now I long for simple monotony in hopes that it may bring some stability and some damn peace and quiet, but I sincerely appreciate your advice for when I start to feel stuck in it. The Denver botanical gardens are beautiful, I ought to go.

[kibrika]

I don't think you're romanticizing one particular city, but the concept of going somewhere where you see at least a bit of nature. Or at the least, pay attention to plants and such when the chance appears.
I had this experience of changing school from one to which I had a half-hour walk along private residence gardens to one where the walk was very short and in the middle of city, and I realized that I suddenly didn't notice seasons changing almost at all because I didn't have the daily chance to see snow melting and plants sprouting.
With regard to sense of time, it has gotten a bit weird, hasn't it?

[campgirl]

My relationship with time has changed a lot since I started student teaching. I only go in twice a week but I’m now much more aware of when I sleep and wake and what day of the week it is (my students sing the song every morning). It’s quite nice, really, to help my own sense of time normalize as they develop one for themselves.

[DanielBParada]

My relationship with time broke with lockdown and it’s only starting to come back in my second year of college and I don’t know how well it’ll stick it’s honestly a little terrifying

[carterstaley]

Lovely video. As I’m slowly starting to replace my car with my bike as my primary means of getting around, I’m moving at a more human pace which gives my city more dimension and a i have a greater appreciation for the days getting longer and less cold.

[floxy]

OHHH i loved this clap! - i had plenty of time to prepare to do my own
also, an answer - time just flows so imperceptibly for me, what with being an unemployed bitch w agoraphobia. im just getting older. also maybe going less and less sane. caffeine really helps to make the passage of it more exciting tho.