Is it slower or does it just take longer?

So usually you might hear the humorous aspects of life here. Well, I guess not so much humorous as I give them a funny spin. Here's the deal. I enjoy making life a little more bearable. That's why I've never had a real 9-5 job, and I take a break every few years to go live in a foreign country (and, yes, Maine counts). But, honestly, what that humor is doing his helping me cope with the fact that my brain works too hard with too much seriousness. It's going all the time, like those of many people, and it often to keeps me constantly on edge thinking about whatever I'm not doing that I should be doing. Sounds familiar, right? Well what also sounds familiar, probably, is that my brain sometimes just takes a chill pill and decides to thoughtfully reflect on things.
So here is my reflection on time. the post won't start with "time," but it should end up there.


In the consciousness of our society, thanks in large part to the massive expanse of the United States (Think 3rd largest country in the world) and our collective memory of going West into the unknown, there is a strong idealization towards the rural life. It is simple, local, familial, old. Hell, hanging out in the woods is so "cool" these days that old might as well mean "retro 19th century social patterns have re-emerged in our quickly modernizing society." Return to the land, the Romantics told us, and now we want to do it. There is a need to go live in a simple cabin, to escape the hustle and bustle. Enjoy the outdoors, go visit a National Park.
To these idealized motifs, I say, hell yeah. Do you want to know why? Because, whether true or not, there are values in these memories. Values like self-sufficiency, family, small communities, living off the land, enjoying the world around you, getting back to the basics. And I have no qualms with these things. Do I think we should all go live on communes and cabins in the valley? No, we are much too big, we've seen too much, Adam ate the damn apple, and life in one of these settings is hell-a tough. But there are values here that are held in the keepsake drawer.
It was a search for these values that made me want to come to Maine, work with my hands, and understand what it means to live on a farm. But I did not find all that I came here with a mindset of looking for. What do I mean? "The simple life." It must be redefined.
We have a notion that things slow down, that tasks are simpler, and that life is easier, less-busy and less-cluttered. I might conditionally agree on a few counts. Life is less-cluttered in that you can focus on just farm-related things (unless you're like Emily and are running for office, practicing law, and planning a wedding in addition to running a farm), and each task is done and then you move onto the next thing. The chores are straightforward. They are what they are and you do them on a daily basis. And so by that token it could be simpler. But here is the truth. It ain't.
The difference between the life I have here and life I have at home is that here I can't cheat and have one task going while I'm doing something else. There is no multi-tasking. You can't take a horse down to pasture while driving your tractor, or clean stalls while yelling out instructions to the student rider. Each task has to be done and you have to be the one to do it. There is no program that does stuff for you. So it's not like time slows down and you sorta walk slowly from one thing to the next and then the day is done. Rather, it's like you have several hours of work to do each day because everything on the list takes the time it takes to get done. So you might not be doing 20 things an hour all at the same time. But you will shovel poop, feed the horses, take horses to pasture and smooth out the riding ring. It'll take the time it takes and eventually you'll be done. And you'll have been completely aware of each part of the process because you can't be loading one page and then bring up the other 19 tabs distracting your attention.
So we might idealize this life, but it's not fully understood. It is just as busy and complicated as anything else. But here each step in the process has to be completed before moving on and there is no way to speed up the process unless you walk faster or move your arms quicker.