How to make time expand.

Last month, I was a speaker at Chris Guillebeau’s Neurodivergent2025 conference in Austin. My workshop was called “Sensory Alchemy” — I was talking to highly sensitive people about how to use their superpowers in their writing. The organizers had implemented something brilliantly simple: noise-cancelling headphones for everyone. I spoke in my natural, quiet voice, and my words traveled directly into the ears of each participant, who could adjust their own volume.

In that well-designed space, our sensitivity was celebrated. That meant that learning could be better integrated and digested by everyone. The quiet, chill crowd created an environment where everyone benefited, a perfect example of universal design in action. So good.

During the conference, Chris gave each participant a copy of his newest book, “Time Anxiety: The Illusion of Urgency and a Better Way to Live.” In it, he shares that our pervasive sense of time scarcity stems not from a lack of hours in the day but from unrealistic expectations and misaligned priorities.

I’m watching Hacks (love it!) and there’s a scene in Season 3 when Deborah laments that the worst part about getting old is that you have to savour every single moment of every day you have left. It’s exhausting, she says. 

My father died on my 19th birthday, at age 51. One year later, my friend Kevin died, just after his 20th birthday. Both of these losses were sudden and unexpected. Growing old isn’t promised to any of us, you know? Perhaps that’s why I feel the constant need to enjoy my life. It’s intense sometimes—if I’m not feeling deep joy, something feels really off.

Our simple aliveness is so random and amazing. If we don’t enjoy it, I think we’re missing the point of it.

Being present is the best way I know to switch from time scarcity into time abundance. At the conference, I invited participants to practice this by focusing deeply on a single sensory experience. This can be anything, like writing down every single sound you can hear in 5 minutes, or describing the exact colour of a daffodil until your sense of time disappears.

In a moment of pure attention, time shifts and expands.

One of my favourite quotes from Chris’s book is, “I'm not going to do X, because I’m going to die one day.” It's a simple reminder. Blunt enough to cut through the wall of my endless to-do list. I hear myself saying it at least a few times a week.

If you’ve been waiting for the “right time” to start writing, let me be blunt: that time will never magically appear. You have to claim it, create it, and stand for it. Don’t wait until you’re less busy. Make yourself less busy right now.

Stare into the centre of a flower until your sense of time disappears. Then, write for ten minutes. Feel how your experience of time shifts when you approach it differently. Prioritize that which gives you life, and enjoy your aliveness.

Writing practice this week

Set a timer for 5 minutes. Focus deeply and completely on one sensory experience (the taste of dark chocolate, the feeling of your dog’s fur, etc.) until time feels different. Then, write for 10 minutes from that expanded state, describing the sensation as best you can.

The Story Is a State of Mind Course

Now that my book is out, I’m returning to this program’s original name! Because that’s what it’s been since the beginning: a writing course that includes practices and teachings that help you with craft and technique while you shift into your creative and curious mindset.

I’ll be rolling out retro-naming changes on the website soon, and updating the course materials too. The curriculum and content will remain classic and fantastic! 🙂

Learn More About the Course

Photo credit (top): Helena Hertz on Unsplash.