It was a cold autumn day a couple years ago when I first felt that pursuing a Ph.D. was warping my sense of time. I had started working at 8: 30 in the morning. By 8 in the evening, when almost everybody else had left, I was still in my office. I had so much work still to do that I reluctantly called my life partner to tell her that I would not be home for dinner. As I finally headed home around midnight, walking down dark, empty corridors and through the deserted university square, I realized that I was living in a sort of time warp-which was particularly ironic given that I was studying how daily activities shape our sense of time. Now, though, after years of allowing my work to take over my life, I'm reclaiming my power to decide how to spend my time.