I work a full-time job at a daycare, most of my day spent hands-on with children under five years old. When I started, I quickly realized I needed a watch. I was frequently without a clock in view, and as you can imagine, it becomes difficult to stay on a schedule when you don’t know how much time has passed. Yet…

I never got one.

As time went on, I simply never purchased a watch, never even searched for one. What was originally an uncomfortable and inconvenient situation eventually turned into one I accepted and even enjoyed.

My solution was to ask coworkers for the time or to peer into the nearest classroom to reference the clock there. These occasional check-ins were all the resources I needed to stay on track.

Though my day is dictated by landmarks of time, in between those landmarks, when time is free to flow, I don’t care to keep track of it. The time will pass either way. I am content to live in the flow and enjoy the current moment instead of constantly rushing to, or dreading, the next.

Over the last few months, the daycare was painted—nearly every single room—and every clock removed. Many still haven’t been put back. When these public reminders of time were taken away, I realized my reliance had shifted from a clock on my wrist to the clocks on the wall, which were everywhere. 

It wasn’t until the clocks were removed that I realized how bound to time I still was, even though I wasn’t holding it in my pocket. It was this shift, this interruption of my habits, that I truly started to realize the negative effect that knowing the time had on me.

I found constantly checking the time breeds impatience, exasperation, and frustration. Waiting for the last kid to leave, watching the minutes tick by slower than they ever have can be infuriating, especially when I am also ready to go home.

When the minute hand dictates my every experience, I can’t help but look to the future, towards the next event. It leaves me in a state of constant planning and thinking ahead, depriving me of the full attention I could be experiencing in the present moment.

When the clock is removed, I don’t think about the next event because I recognize it will come in its own time. There isn’t any amount of watching the minute hand that will bring the event more quickly. I simply enjoy the moment I’m experiencing now and deal with what’s next as it comes.

I am content to simply be. 

Ever since the clocks were removed, I frequently have no concept of time, nothing to remind me of the minutes passing by. What started out as enjoying the fruits of one less purchase (a watch) turned into an unexpected lesson in slow living and mastering the art of being present. 

I am calm, pleasant, and content; those ill-willed emotions left behind. Instead of wishing time would move faster, I’m pleased to experience it as God designed. How beautiful is that?

Not only am I happier doing my job, I also find myself applying this principle to the rest of my life. Although it’s a work in progress to make this drastic mindset shift, I don’t have a desire to be tied to the clock. I still check the time, don’t get me wrong, but it is no longer the driving force of my life.

I never expected the simple decision of refusing a watch would impact my life the way it has. I don’t think I could reverse the growth I’ve experienced; I wouldn’t want to anyway. I prefer the warm feeling of peaceful content with which I’m now able to move through my day. 

I encourage you to try removing yourself from the constraints of time as much as you’re able. In a world driven by the next event, perhaps removing the clock is where slow, intentional living could be sparked for you.