130: Where Did the Time Go?
The Stoic philosopher Seneca argued that, "life isn't short, we just waste a lot of it."
I tend to agree although I'm still amazed at how a decade passes and I wonder, "didn't I just..."
Social media has a way of reminding me that time is fleeting, especially when those memory photo sequences show up in my feed.
I think, "that couldn't have been 12 years ago."
I catch myself in the time-warp every time I tell someone that I have two adult daughters and five grandkids.
Sure, there have been more wasted life moments than I'm proud of, but life being short? Maybe I'm just doing my best to keep it all in perspective.
"Waste" seems too harsh of a word to attach to our time.
"Carelessly" use it, perhaps.
Frankly, we don't lose time, we give it away. And maybe that's where waste gives way to carelessness.
The greater question here is why?
Why do we give away our time so carelessly?
Time is too valuable a gift to be squandered or carelessly surrendered to that which provides little return on investment
It's essential to see time as the currency of your experiences. What you invest in returns to you or disappears into the void, having been a frivolous expense.
Time slips away when we don't pay attention
Life is generous for the most part.
Clocks or the latest trendy time management technique aren't the problem.
The problem is time usage and you are the steward of the moments given you.
Seneca confides, "Life is long enough, and it's been given to us in generous measure for accomplishing the greatest things, if the whole of it is well invested."1
Be aware of how you invest your time. Simplistic I realize, but reflection might reveal that it's simplicity has been squandered on things of lesser value in your life.
Live an examined life. Not a down-to-the-second kind of monitoring, rather a focus on how you can improve hour by hour, day by day.
Spend time as you would cash. You have a limited supply but the balance remains elusive.
Time is a marker not a measurement
Measuring life by years creates an illusion relative to time.
Someone lives to the age of 90 and we think, "Wow, what a long life." Yet, someone who dies at 30, prompts thoughts of how short their life was.
Neither measurement accounts for the quality of those years, long or short as they my appear.
You can exist for a long or short duration but the marking of time reveals the quality of your life.
"You can exist for eighty years and live for maybe ten. Or you can live every day and make eighty years feel like a lifetime."2
The quality marker matters more than the mere measurement.
Seneca notes, "As it is with a play, so it is with life-what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is."3
Time is savored when the unnecessary is eliminated
In response to someone's common question, "how are you," it's easy to default to saying, "busy," "stressed," or "tired."
The deeper reality of such responses is what's contributing to your emotional state in the moment.
Each answer creates an illusion of importance or victimhood.
You might indeed be busy, stressed, or tired but be completely unaware of how each are a result of how you're investing your time.
Life passes you by regardless and in the process creates the excuse that, "when things settle down," you'll be less busy, stressed, or tired.
But there's always another condition or excuse demanding a moment of your time.
Busyness, stress, and weariness, when filtered through the gift of time, will be less of an excuse and more something you will diligently try to eliminate.
It's essential to ask, "Is (name your condition) how I want to spend the slice of time, life has given me today?"
Evaluate your daily routines and circumstantial responses.
Eliminate the habits that are intent on stealing your time.
Fill the gaps with what feeds your mind, your health, and your time with those you love.
No doubt, time is fleeting, but the pace has less impact when you are living in the sweet spot of worthwhile investments.
- Pay attention so time doesn't slip away.
- Mark time instead of measuring it.
- Eliminate the unnecessary to savor your time.
Press on...
Eddie
Sources:
1-3 https://medium.com/personal-growth/senecas-letters-on-time-will-change-your-entire-reality-of-life-79c127b93279