Seconds

Have you really thought about how much the length of one minute differs? Depending on the circumstances, it can be one hour or one second.
    When I had quick changes for dance performances, one minute was a chaotic rush of stripping clothing and replacing it with different clothing. The sweat on my body made that all the more difficult and when all was done, I needed to remember what the next piece was, what the mood was, find a calm before emerging on stage again.
    Waiting for a video to load for a minute whilst using shoddy wifi on the other hand seemed like ages were passing. Over those sixty seconds, your patience thins until you either give up or wait it out another sixty seconds.
    The amount of times I’ve gotten off work and looked at the bus schedule on my phone only to find the next bus would arrive in a minute sent me into a sprint. Especially depending on which bus and where the stop was. But one minute was a hurry and I would usually make it on board panting and wheezing. 
    Watching the clock to see when my shift is over at work or when my lunch break starts though, that one minute took forever. When all you want to do is go home or go sit down and eat food, waiting for the clock to move one space feels eternal. 
    When I went to Pride with friends, the sun was merciless and every minute standing in it made me want to die. My feet burned even through my shoes, my hair was hot to the touch. One minute was infinite hell until we finally found shade.
    Microwaving something for a minute either takes too long or ends in a breeze depending if you’re standing there waiting or trying to complete as many other tasks as you can in that window of time. 
    You hear these phrases like, “take a minute” or “I’ll just be a minute” or “wait a minute”. But what is a minute anyway when these things are said? Is it the kind that lasts hours or the kind that lasts seconds? It’s a perfect description of time, yet, it’s so uncertain. 
    It’s weird how time changes without changing at all. How much our brains alter the span of seconds based on varying situations we are in. It can be an insanely long amount of time or a flash before the eyes. It’s all determined by happiness, stress, adrenaline, frustration, pain, and countless other emotions and feelings and physical reactions. Time is a construct and always has been no matter how much we try to control it. It means nothing and means everything all at once. Our lives circle around it, this invisible force that we made up. And it challenges us because it exists. And we have to ask ourselves, what will I do in these sixty seconds?