Sunday, March 8, 2020

On the General Utility of Spring Forward

For those of us who practise Daylight Saving Time, as we do here in Ontario, this morning was Spring Forward. The clock moved forward one hour, meaning that today only had 23 hours.

Typically, this is thought of as terrible. Unlike its counterpart Fall Back, which allows for an extra hour of sleep, video games, or even (gasp!) productivity, there's very little appealing about losing an hour.

In the spirit of trying to find silver linings in everything, here are three positives I find in Spring Forward:
  1. If you have to pull an all-nighter for some reason, Spring Forward makes it easier.
    • This is the worst reason to be happy about Spring Forward, but it's the one I originally thought of, way back in middle school, when an all-nighter meant the aforementioned video games rather than the aforementioned productivity. That was also when pulling all-nighter was a badge of honour rather than a reason to drink more coffee.
  2. If you have an upcoming event and you can't wait, Spring Forward makes it come faster.
    • This year, Spring Forward came on a Sunday. That means that instead of losing an hour before work, many of us lost an hour before anything from a drive to the cottage (my parents) to lunch with a friend (me). When you want something to come faster, Spring Forward toward it!
  3. If you're a night owl, you get to the wee hours again faster.
    • Although a morning coffee in front of a sunrise is a great feeling, so is the next time you get to relax with a good book and a mug of tea while you watch the darkness outside.
Spring is coming! Look deeply into its eye...