ALL MIXED UP – MAKING DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME EQUITABLE
What is an hour of life worth? And who is going to pay me back?
How do we put a value on an hour of life? For some, the answer might be something like, "Aw, an hour flies by. It’s not worth much."
Personally, I would be, as my mother or father might say, "flabbergasted" or "boggled" by such an egregious assumption.
Like many of us, I expect, Daylight Saving Time in the United States started today at 2:00 AM. It will end on November 2, 2025, at 2:00 AM. If you're like me, this caught me completely by surprise this morning. From the moment I opened my eyes, I realized I was an hour late. What had happened?
I asked Alexa what time it was, and she confirmed things were definitely later than I thought. She also told me it was Sunday, March 9, which made a bit more sense—I remembered that the day before was Saturday. After a few more minutes of stumbling around my bedroom, it finally sunk in: Daylight Saving Time! That was the culprit!
Now, I’ve never really had any major issues with the whole concept of Daylight Saving Time. It’s always felt like a good sign to me—spring is just around the corner! A little more research revealed that March 20 is only 11 days away!
My mood quickly shifted from confusion to joy and excitement. I threw on my mixed-up collection of morning garments to stay warm in my old, rather chilly house here in Tahoe City. I headed to the kitchen, filled a pot with water, added some coffee grounds, and kicked off my day.
As you may have gathered, I’m an early riser. Although it wasn’t always this way. For many years, I enjoyed sleeping in, taking it easy, and, as my father used to say, "starting slow and tapering off," particularly on a Sunday.
Satisfied with my assessment of the situation, I continued my morning routine, which includes a variety of activities. The first of which is called "The Happiness 100"—a personalized meditation and gratitude exercise I created several years ago during some tough times. There are several elements involved, including meditation, gratitude statements, and reciting positivity statements, like those from The Four Agreements, a fantastic book written by Don Miguel Ruiz in 1997. The lessons I learned and the practices I began after reading this book have changed my life in numerous ways and helped me get through some difficult times.
Over the years, I’ve found that these practices tend to calm my mind, allowing it to open up to broader, freer thinking. This has greatly enhanced my creativity in many ways, and as a musician and songwriter, this has become critical to my creative process. I like to say, “Ease the mind, and creativity grows.”
This morning, I found myself completely absorbed in thinking about Daylight Saving Time. It seems to me that this practice, which interrupts our lives, our schedules, and all sorts of things twice a year, is a bit mixed up—and, in fact, extremely inequitable. Ultimately, it shortchanges us all! And by "all," I mean everyone—humans, animals, all living beings!
Allow me to explain my concerns and objections. But first, a little background…
Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea of saving daylight in the United States in 1784. However, it wasn’t actually adopted here until March 21, 1918. According to multiple sources, Daylight Saving Time results in only a 0.3% savings in energy savings.
There are 238 days of daylight saving time in a year, and there are 8,765 hours in one year.
To keep things simple, let’s say one hour of life is worth $100. The average American makes roughly $32,000 per year, with an average hourly wage of about $19.33. The average lifespan of an American adult is 79 years.
Over the course of their life, an average adult would experience daylight saving time, losing one hour each year for 79 years. So, let’s round that to $20 an hour for easier calculations.
From this, using my own personal stats, I’m 62 years old this year. That means $1,240 is owed to me for the hour lost each year to daylight saving time over the last 62 years. (62 years of daylight saving time, times $20 equals $1,240).
But really, the value of an hour is subjective and differs for everyone. In my opinion, it’s essential to recognize that we’re talking about an hour of life—an hour of your life.
If you're interested, I’d like to share my perspective on the value of an hour in a much more significant way. We’re not talking about just any hour; we’re talking about your life. I’m sure we all have different ways of calculating and valuing an hour of our lives, and naturally, that will vary from person to person.
In my case, the value of an hour of life is impossible to quantify fully. I can tell you, though, that it’s worth far more than we’ve considered so far. As unique individuals, we all have our own circumstances and perspectives. Not all of us get to enjoy or use every one of those 8,765 hours in a year. Life happens.
For each of us, the road is different. Life changes. And for me, this is painfully clear. Life can change in a split second, and things completely out of your control can alter everything. In some cases, things change so slowly that you don’t realize it until much later. This is exactly what happened to me.
About 34 months ago, I was diagnosed with a terminal neurological condition related to Alzheimer’s disease. As you might imagine, this has deeply changed my perspective on the value of time. Every hour matters, and each one feels more valuable than the last as time ticks by. I’ve learned to treat each hour like gold. I cherish every second that passes—every blink of my eyes, every tick of the clock. Each hour deserves my attention and respect.
Whatever an hour contains—whether it’s snow falling, raindrops, the rays of the sun, my thoughts, or my fears—everything adds to the value of that hour. Nothing should be disregarded or put off. I now hold a deeper respect for the value of time than I ever did before.
Perhaps my experience has given me a wake-up call—opened my eyes to something that, before, I may have ignored. I’m sure many people don’t always give their time the attention it deserves. Time is a gift that often goes unappreciated, but I now understand just how precious it truly is.
Please don’t misunderstand me: I may be technically losing my mind, but aren’t we all, in some way, losing a bit of our minds as time passes? Sooner or later, it happens to everyone. I’m not sitting around counting every tick of the clock or stressing over every task on my to-do list. Instead, I am actively staying aware of and cherishing each hour of my life—good, bad, crazy, loud, quiet, inspirational. However an hour manifests itself in my world, it will be respected and given the gratitude it deserves.
Now, returning to my concerns about daylight saving time, I would urge all of us to take a closer look at the true value of daylight saving time and whether it’s really necessary. From my research, I’ve found that daylight saving time was originally proposed by Benjamin Franklin and supported by agricultural and scientific communities back in the day. Of course, it’s given us longer evenings and more daylight in the summer, which many of us enjoy. However, the claim that daylight saving time reduces energy usage seems to be false.
Daylight saving time has a negative impact on animals, especially pets like dogs, who can become confused and exhibit erratic behavior due to the time change. It can also disrupt human patterns, especially for people with neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s. In agriculture, it causes difficulties with changes in weather patterns, plant growth, and other factors. Moreover, studies have shown that daylight saving time increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
In conclusion, while we each measure the value of time in different ways, it’s clear that the hour lost to daylight saving time has more impact than we often consider. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider whether it’s worth the disruption it causes. Time is precious—every hour, every minute, every second.
You can't find time, it's always there… You've got to make it and take it