We are all given the same number of days in a week, hours in a day, minutes in an hour and seconds in a minute. What we choose to do with that time determines the outcome of our life in itself.
Of course this doesn’t factor in every one of our deeply personal circumstances which makes the value of time differ considerably for each of us.
Before I had Madison, time was something I had a lot of. I didn’t realise it at the time (ironic) but the spare hours on my hands were vast and I'm not sure I put them to use in the way I should have. When I think about those long evening baths, café dates, candy crush addictions and time spent drinking coffee or wine, I can’t help but reminisce fondly whilst at the same time finding myself annoyed that I took so much of it for granted.
It’s easy to be busy. We can all find something to do. And if you read last month's newsletter you might agree that at the bones of our “busy” we find prioritising the main contributor to time spent.
The problem with that is we often don’t realise what is a priority until we no longer have the time to make it a priority. We (the royal we) only discover when it’s too late that perhaps our priorities might have been in the wrong order.
Time is far more valuable than money but we spend it as though there is an infinite amount. There is always tomorrow or later or “just now”.
Action is the only thing that holds us back from using our time wisely. But we confuse being busy with being productive which is ultimately what leads us to our downfall. And don’t get me wrong, putting time aside to rest, recoup and revive is just as productive as climbing career ladders and making tons of money. Not that either of those are happening over here, but I’m sure you get my point.
If only I had appreciated a morning shower that wasn’t on the clock, or an hour of work without a single distraction or squeak. Oh what I could have achieved…
But that’s the thing about time isn’t it? Once it’s gone it’s gone. It’s not like money that we can possibly make again. Time is a commodity that simply, one day, runs out.
The wonderful thing about time, however, is that it has the ability to be our greatest teacher. If we can learn from the way we spent the years that have passed we can be sure to invest the time we have left a little more wisely.
I feel like it is now, when my time is so scarce, that God has decided to give me an abundance of great ideas.
I find myself wishing I had all the time I had before Madison to achieve these hopes and aspirations, but in all honesty would I actually have achieved them? Then, when I didn’t value time the way I do now, it would have felt like I have forever to “make things happen”.
I would argue that perhaps the shortage of time on my hands now only entices me more to actually get shit done. Pardon my French.
It’s the same as not appreciating someone until they are gone, or not understanding what it means to have a R100 note until a R100 note is all you have. It’s really up to us to understand how much power we have in our hands if we choose to spend our time wisely, no matter how that looks to you.
If you aren’t feeling a little anxious about what you have planned for the rest of the week by the time you are done with this read, then unfortunately I have achieved nothing. You have indeed wasted more time!
But if you have found yourself feeling like, perhaps there is something more important that you could spend your time on, well then my work here is done.
So here’s to taking action; to finding the value of each and every one of the seconds we live; and to considering the bigger picture of how you want to look back on your time already spent.
With love and no time,
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