/Tt/ is for Time

‘The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot’ – Michael Altshuler.

When I was younger, I had a real ‘thing’ about not wasting time. Always busy, always trying to achieve something that gave me a sense of fulfillment. During the last couple of years I’ve been reflecting on this busyness of life and contemplating how I can slow things down. I came upon a Spanish proverb the other day (https://www.affirmations.com.au) that says: How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward. Umm…sounds blissful!

I mentioned in a previous post, /Ss/ is for Simplicity, that I recently read a beautiful book titled Practising Simplicity by Jodi Wilson. It’s the story of Jodi and her family and their journey to find a life with fewer distractions. I highly recommend it if you are interested in this idea of living more simply and perhaps creating more time in your day or a slower pace of life.

Retirement from paid work didn’t equate to laid-back days for me, but looking back now, I think it was a process that I needed to go through in order to get to this more comfortable position. I still have weeks when I feel very time poor as I rush from one thing to another, but being the pilot of this flying time can be complicated.

I think a lot of it comes down to our values and those things that we hold dear. I know at times that I’m my own worst enemy because of the beliefs that I hold.

Commitment and/or a sense of responsibility to family, friends and even organisations to which we may belong can eat into our time. And that’s fine if it’s giving something back to us. But, if there comes a time when we no longer feel that we are getting anything positive from the relationship, or we feel that we are giving a lot and receiving very little in return, then perhaps it’s the time to reassess, rather than continue out of a sense of duty. That can just lead to resentment, and that’s not healthy for anyone. Sometimes we may need to set boundaries in order to bring some balance to our lives. I read recently that setting boundaries is not being selfish, rather it’s being kind to ourselves. Perhaps this is what is meant by ‘being the pilot’.

Life is a balancing act for most of us, and it will never be perfect. Perhaps if we allow ourselves to be guided by our values, aspirations and moral compass then we’ll get it right most of the time. Life is precious, time is precious, so perhaps right now is the time to prioritise.

Next time /Pp/