When time stands still

Sometimes time just stands still. Even though your brain realises that actually it is not the case, you still somehow feel that it is not moving in its usual pace. Something out of the ordinary overwhelms you. You can feel the gripping tension of certain hopelessness. Hopelessness that makes you feel inclined to produce some kind of counter reaction to your surroundings in order to feel that time is actually moving.

Usually time stands still when there is no one around. When it’s just you and the surrounding night. One might think that it’s a good thing. Having the night to yourself. Just you and your thoughts. What could be more appropriate. No one interfering in your world. No one smashing into your existence. Just pure and soothing silence provided by the night that wraps you in its dark garments.

As soothing as it might be, it does not help with the fact that sooner rather than later someone is going to shatter this solitude. And then you will have to snap back to reality and react. Downside of the matter is, that between shattering interference and reaction you are expected to carry out, there is always minute but yet still perceptible stillness. That time-space continuum that looks like a gap in the well rehearsed sequence of actions. You might think that no one saw it. They couldn’t have. That it was oh so brief.

But alas, someone always does. And even though most of the time situations like these do not involve any harmful side effects, it only takes one to cause damage to the future sequences.

That one time where you weren’t fast enough might make all the difference. It shatters your self belief. Even if only for a little while. It makes you doubt everything you know. It begs the question of whether or not you should carry on.

Getting back in the saddle after that one time is difficult enough. But it is even more difficult to convince oneself that that was all it was – just one unfortunate mishap that will more than likely never happen again. And it might not. But the fear of it lurks in the back of your head like a deadly shadow. It is even worse than the mishap itself because it breeds doubt and insecurity. It keeps you on the verge of the dark side. It allows the doubt to take over. It becomes the master of you instead of you becoming the master of it.

Realising the danger of time is important. This realisation helps you to at least attempt to prevent the inevitable. It is inevitable because it is bound to happen to the best of us. It is inevitable because time is older than the world and therefore has more experience with taking over the world than the world has experience with taking over the time.

But nonetheless it ought not deter one from attempting to do ones best. Time will always find a way to stand still. It is ones task to figure out the way to prevent most of its attempts to stand still. Without these attempts, there is no way to survive the night.