Poll Do You Have a Bad Sense of Time?

[Lisa]

Something I have recently noticed is that I don't have good sense of time. in fact, I have awful sense of time. A lot of the time I don't know what day it is, let alone the time! I have got into a habit now sometimes (when I remember) of constantly checking the time every few minutes, because I can't trust that if I don't consciously do this, hours go by and I run out of time!

Sometimes I am doing something, and I swear it has only been half an hour, and I realise it's been much longer. It goes the other way too... I think it's been half hour and it's only been a couple of minutes (though that only happens in lectures, so I suspect that is boredom!!).

Just wondering if anyone has noticed this lack of sense of time themselves?

 

[Lisa]

Urm, I think occasionaly and sometimes are too close to meaning the same thing... can someone change the sometimes option to often please? Sorry!

 

[batgirl]

Yes I do too, especially for dates or days of the week. I never know what day of the week it is. Sunday is church though, so I know today is Sunday. But by the time Tuesday rolls around, I will have forgotten the day again, I will think it's Wednesday or Monday. ;) In my case I think not working or going to school has something to do with it.

 

[Lisa]

Good point. I think the fact that my timetable means I only have lectures on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I get extremely long 'weekends' (lol) and never know what day it is for that reason!

 

[Bella78]

Always late everywhere!!

And even with secondary trauma I find myslef getting ready to go out. Nearly ready, look at the clock, good, on time. Then by the time I actually get in the car and drive off the clock has gone another half hour!

 

[just tina]

Time is a real problem for me. I finally accepted that "my problem" last term was a relapse because I kept getting the date wrong all week. I knew Friday was Nov. 9---a significant anniversary, and I'd know what DAY it was. Still, I'd look in the calendar book to see what the date was and forget it as soon as I closed the book. I missed voting and an appointment with an academic adviser because I had the dates and days mixed up. Friday the 9th came. I sat outside before a class thinking about the anniversary and how to mark it, then I went to class, opened my notebook, and started to write November 5.

Time was running through my fingers all term. Usually I can compensate, but I got overwhelmed. Feeling traumatized totally messes up my sense of time. In a society that runs by the clock, not being on top of schedules can have some seriously negative consequences.

Any hints, clues, tricks or methods to get in sync with the unnatural rhythms of society would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bella78]

Tina, mobile phones have a lot of good funtions that can help you with scheduling. Try using the calendar section and every time you have an appointment put it in your phone. You can set it as a reminder so that the alarm will go off (the noise of that will probably begine to really irritate you before too long, I know it does for me, but better than missing things or being really late). Set the alarm twice, once for the day before, perhaps at 8pm at night in case you need to prepare anything before you go to bed and again like an hour or half an hour before you are due somewhere, or due to do something. Aslo be sure to give yourself more than enough time to get to places.

Then following the last reminder, if you still think you may that you need to do something, try getting an elastic band, hair bands work well, or even those cloured charity bands and put it on you wrist. Then when you have one of these on, you know it means you still have to remember to do something, go to the Dr for example. If you need to check what your wristnadn is a reminder for, just look back at your phone.

As for the date and time thing, a mobile phone can be set to display these on the front screen too. Get in the habit of checking it regulalry.

You'll get the hang of it and once you start to get on top of it, you will have more faith in yourself and before too long it may not even be an issue any longer.

Best of luck!

 

[Lisa]

Just tina... man, you are just like me! My lecturers have now made a standard joke of my difficulties with time. I have an appointment with my tutor the same time every week... and I still get it all wrong. He often asks me what day it is as a joke... and I'll get it wrong still!! As for dates... forgeddit. I'm still struggling with where I am in the 7 days of a week... !

 

[Lisa]

Bella 78 - good advice. I use the calendar on my phone but never used the alarms on it can't believe I never thought of that... thanks!

 

[just tina]

Good advice guys. Now any advice on how to program my cell phone? (Just kidding.)

I just ordered a new laptop to carry around at school and I'm going to spend a lot of time setting up calendars and alarms. Going to go through all two of my syllabuses carefully. And check and recheck to make sure I got the numbers right. Need to spend time in the morning and before I go to bed going over the schedule and deadlines. It's easier for me if I always do something at the same time, on the same day. It would help if I find a spot in a cafe on Saturday mornings to review and regroup for the week, too. There's something about a booth that makes secretarial work easier for me. If I get in the habit of going regularly, then the brain will fall into that groove more easily. Need to get listy.

The problems with numbers is especially bad during a relapse. I think when they debriefed me, they told me to forget numbers, and I obliged. I used to be real good with them. Now it's hard to remember my phone number. Boy did I relapse last term. And my schedule was insane. I feel like a caveman. Daylight savings time messes me up for three weeks. The sun isn't where it's supposed to be!

The anniversary thing is weird, too---normal weird---but weird. It's like part of my mind thought I could keep the day from happening if I didn't acknowledge it.

 

[mightsurvive]

Timeline gets confused

I can be doing something and time just flies and at other times it goes so slowly. Also, I often can't remember what I did yesterday for example but when I can remember I cant remember what order I did things in. I often think I did an activity in the afternoon but I actually did it in the morning or vice versa. When I compare two activities that i did on the same day and sometimes on different days I often confuse which one came first.

 

[TaraJ]

I began feeling as though I wasn't sure where I was at times, after years of trauma during childhood. I thought it would get better. It got to where I could not realize the age of my family members. I kept thinking they were the same age as they were back in the days of the trauma. It took me a very long time to force myself to remember their current ages. I am able to do that now, but by now it has progressed to where I can't seem to mentally keep track of time. An hour could seem like ten minutes, so I was on warning at work, several times and feeling depressed and suicidal (better now) because it wasn't my fault that I couldn't remember..and once again, I was in a situation where I was about to be denied what I needed, because of something that wasn't my fault. I have never sought any therapy for this. I couldn't make myself seek out help. However, I think I have finally begun to mentally process a time frame again. I check the clock often, to remind myself that time still goes by, even though I often feel as if I'm dreaming. It's not easy. Does anyone have a method that might work better? ..Or even just a particular way of thinking? My boyfriend thinks I'm a huge lazy-ass or a very skilled procrastinator (LOL), but unfortunately, it's the result of feeling as if I'm only dreaming, and not real. As if there is no hurry, because it is only a dream. It's a very bad habit of mine. I can't get anything accomplished at home. Any tips guys?
I never have spoken to anyone about this stuff before.
I'm a little shaky about it, but I guess it can't hurt.

X,
Tara