Dispatches from the Fury Road: How the Time Flies...

2020 felt like a marathon.

I can’t remember time crawling so slowly as an adult. When I was a kid, the gap between my September birthday and Christmas seemed like an eternity and even that had nothing on last year. I thought 2021 was going to be more of the same. We all know that the turning over from one year into the next is an arbitrary date that we collectively agreed on being the beginning of a brand new start, and with that comes hope and energy to tackle the upcoming months. Yet this year started with us bent over, leaning on our knees, holding up one hand as if to say, “Just wait a minute mate, I’m catching my breath.”

I figured this year was going to be another marathon.

That’s why I can’t work out how it is already the middle of February. This year has felt like a sprint to me with the days gliding by at the speed Usain Bolt once watched a crowd disappearing behind him. In a year where not much appears to be happening, I have been fortunate enough to visit Adelaide to see family and friends and Melbourne for work. I was in Victoria for such a short amount of time that I have virtually no memory of taking the photo that accompanies this blog. My masked visage reflected in the mirror of a ghostly airport seems strange and fictional to me.

One of the positives to come from my time in isolation was that I could take a breath and examine the world. Thoughts and ideas coalesced into realisations not unlike the forehead-slapping “A-ha!” moment often found at the end of a detective story. In the twilight of my forties I remembered who I was and unshackled the cynicism that had become a tedious burden in a previous life. I never subscribed to world-weary pessimism but had definitely been infected by it. Quarantine provided the inoculation I never knew I needed.

Maybe that is why the year is racing along for me? When you feel engaged and have clear goals, there are never enough hours in the day. Every moment is a vessel to be filled with fresh experiences and exciting ideas. It is important to feed the intellect and in the process you have the best chance of avoiding the black holes you sometimes find yourself being drawn into.

And before this becomes a self-help post that finishes with me asking you to donate all your money to discover the secret to universal wellness, I’ll just say that everyone comes to these realisations in their own time. The best we can do is remember to think outside of the memeplex that is you and be there for people when they need a little reminder of just how ace they really are

How are you today?

Justin Hamilton

16th of February, 2021

Surry Hills