Every day I go to bed thinking tomorrow I will finally get everything I need to do finished. But each night I retire to bed defeated. Something needs to change
There was a time not long ago when we had plenty of time; now there’s too much to do. Lockdowns dragged on for ever when we were in them but feel shorter as they edge further into the past. I have heard lockdowns described – often by the kind of people who protested they were unnecessary – as a middle-class luxury. This made me feel even worse about how much I was enjoying the whole experience while so many people’s circumstances made it unbearable for them.
What I was luxuriating in was time. I had time to sit, time to read, time to cook, iron, doze, exercise, garden and all the other things I can never normally fit in. Once I had done all those things, and added in some new hobbies – darts, language learning, etc – I was at risk of running out of time all over again, ironically. But I wrested back control; I knew I had to because the preciousness of time had become clear to me.
Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist
