Time as the Enemy

The watch I wear is an accessory that I feel represents me. To put it bluntly, I generally think of myself as a boring person. I don't really have any super interesting or unique characteristics and I also am not a huge proponent of taking risks or doing things on a whim. I like to plan things out methodically before taking any action. Similarly, my watch is minimal and basic. The watch face consists of 12 printed numerals, three sword-style hands--the most commonly found hand set on watches--and a day/date feature--the most common watch complication--all in a simple black and white color scheme. It's not flamboyant or extravagant in design or color. It just gets the job done, and that's all I need it to do. 

Watches in a more general sense also represent me. My boringness and methodical planning lead to a relatively consistent daily routine, much like the reliable pattern of a watch's second hand ticking each second. Additionally, I'm a very time-oriented person. For example, whenever I offer to pick up multiple friends, I plan things out to the exact minute. My typical thought process would be something like this: I know that it takes 4 minutes to go from my house to Friend A's house, then 9 minutes from Friend A's house to Friend B's house, and finally 12 minutes from Friend B's house to our destination. So if we have to get to our destination by 3:30, I would tell Friend A that I would be at their house at precisely 3:07 and 3:16 for Friend B, leaving 2 minutes of extra time just to be safe. I go through similar thought processes throughout my daily life with things like getting to class on time, so I'm always constantly checking my watch.

However, while I'm a very time-oriented person and I feel that my watch accurately represents me, I have a mixed relationship with time. Although everything I do heavily relies on time, I actually think of time as an enemy. As a swimmer, my entire sport is dedicated to battling against the clock to swim as fast as possible. Additionally, I constantly have to battle against time to stay on time with all of my school work by planning ahead for everything. Despite seeing so many similarites between myself and my watch, time is still my enemey. In fact, I remember an extensive conversation I had with one of my friends where we both came to a conclusion that pausing time would be the best superpower to have because then we would have all the time in the world. 

In 1-on-1 or team sports, understanding your opponent helps you defeat them. If you figure out what the other team's strategy is or what their weaknesses are, you can develop new strategies to counter the other team's and exploit their weaknesses. This is why many professional athletes in these 1-on-1 and team sports watch film of their opponents' previous games or matches. In my case, my opponent is time. So in order to "defeat" time and stay on top of everything, I need to understand it, which is exactly what my watch allows me to do.