What's your relationship with time?

Christmas countdown, and I’m deliberately frittering away time that I should be using to do all the things on my list to make things happen. Gifts have yet to be purchased and wrapped, cooking and baking are undone.

It’s not like I have an open schedule. I have a full time job that requires me to be there at a certain time, and once I’m there, my work schedule is bound by meetings and time blocked out for projects. I go to lunch at a certain time, and am supposed to take an hour. I have time constraints for vacation time, limiting travel, and for sick days, limiting how I feel.

When my children were little, time was marked by how late day care stayed open; every minute past time cost money. They started school, and time was marked by the beginning of the school year, end of the school year, vacation and breaks.

Cooking happens according to the timer on the oven, or the seconds in the microwave. Without TiVo, even leisure time of watching television is dictated by the television schedule. Invitations are issued with start times, and punctuality is expected.

Does time control you? How do you manage time and time constraints?