A Short Thought on Time

(wrote this late in the evening of a Sunday after an impactful weekend…no edits)

Time is fleeting. Time is a mystery. What is time, exactly?

I can’t answer that question, but there are a few things I now know about time.

Time is important. Time is wasted. Time is, or at least should be, our number one commodity.

The time we spend doing things that we do not want to do is brutal. The time we spend doing things we want to do is crucial. The balance…tricky.

But should it be?

We all know the feeling when we try to quantify our work time, but we never seem to quite get it right when planning our personal time. Time with the kid- always great. Time working on a menial task- always bad. How do we change this? Is it possible?

When I hit my forties, perhaps my biggest goal was to better prioritize and enjoy my shrinking time. I am not sure I have accomplished this yet, but that goal still lives. Why am I taking so much time?

I had an experience this weekend of someone extremely close to me facing this dilemma with each second of each day. I have appreciated the time component of life for quite some time, but this weekend made me think a little deeper on it.

What matters at the end of the proverbial day? I can tell you, at least from my insight, there are only a few things. Perhaps these few things are defined differently by some of us, but I can promise that the difference is likely slight. Likely slighter than we think.

This sentence/paragraph is where I would typically list three things that tend to be important for the vast majority of us. I will fight that urge, because I cannot define those items of importance for anyone but myself. But think about them.

This weekend helped me hone in on what those things are for me. I am sure they will be a work in progress, but perhaps I should know them by now- which I likely do.

Time. Important. Crucial. Meaningful. Mysterious.

-HB