This morning it finally happened. I woke up on time, ate my breakfast and prepared myself for two work calls that were scheduled for 8:00 and 9:00. On the dot of 8, I dialed the client, greeted her, not noticing her slightly confused tone, and quickly went into my agenda for the call. After my first question, she paused and said, “Let me think. You’ll have to forgive me because I’m not really ready since I thought this call was going to be Thursday.” I was about to answer, “Yes, this in Thursday,” when I suddenly realized that it was not. I quickly apologized and said I would be speaking with her tomorrow morning as I crept away.
It is a running joke that we aren’t aware of the day of the week. The oppressive sameness of each day, coupled with our lack of contact with the people and events that would define the tent posts of the week, have stripped from our consciousness the Monday-ness, or Thursday-ness of our days. Each day is only Thisday which it will be until tomorrow becomes Thisday and Thisday becomes yesterday (and after a day or two all yesterday’s are irrelevant).
One could imagine that our current experience is closer to that of primitive humans who hunted and gathered for that day and didn’t think much about how any day related to others. There was no hump day for the Neanderthals. It also points out to us how artificial time is as a construct, as it is so easy to strip away the marks of significance.
Now, our experience is not as schedule free as our ancestors. Most of us still have appointments, and I could easily have looked at my calendar first thing this morning and discovered my mistake before I exposed my confusion. Also I know that I sometimes got days wrong, even when I worked an office job. But I believe that this does feel different and presents us with an opportunity to experience now as we never have before and likely never will again.
Be safe, be strong.