Time is of our Essence

Time is what you make of it, so make it worthwhile.

If you haven’t read the second blog post, The Young and the [oh so] Restless, I encourage you to do so as this post will be a sort of continuation of the previous. Plus, it’s a really good post if I do say so myself.

For the sake of time and you understanding why I am so fascinated with it, I will summarize what I realized in the drafting of the previous post that inspired the writing of this present one. In short, I have been going through (and slowly coming out of) a period of restlessness. I have been overwhelmed by the new responsibilities and opportunities I have inhabited along with the abundance of freetime that I had no idea how to fill. And while I said, I was thankful for this time of restlessness for pushing me to find something that sparks a passion so deep inside me that I would have no other choice but to fill my days with ways to mold it into a project so beautiful that the world will fall in love with it as much as I did — I realized that we can learn so much from the concept of time.

No matter if you measure time in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years, it moves throughout its normal routine with little regard to how it affects our day to day lives. And that is solely because it is certain of what it is and its purpose. If we were to personify time, its being would exude confidence like no other. It would command a room with it’s presence and its presence alone to then wither its way into the hearts and minds of everyone in its wake within a few seconds of it speaking. A voice so calm and undisturbing that speaks words so passionately that you couldn’t help but fall head over heels for Time. However, deep down inside, you would have this prickling feeling of envy towards them. Unable to wrap your head around how someone is so certain of themselves, so certain of their future? How they are able to wake each day, having only one goal in mind and devoting their entire 24 hours to achieving it and doing so flawlessly. Then it hits you: it’s because Time invested time into what it is passionate about.

Allow me to explain.

Time, if it was a person, would be what some people call ‘selfish’. For 24 hours a day, their only concern is the things that they want, that they are passionate about. Their passion is to supply 24 hours in a day to you and I to do with as we please and they will not allow anything to stop them from doing so. Never will they allow themselves to dwell too long on the things or people they can’t control. Never will they allow themselves to lose sight of who they are or the purpose in which they serve. Never will they stop their lives to better accommodate the life of someone else. Never will they stop being available for the people who need them most while never allowing people to take advantage of their kindness. Time is not selfish, time is devoted. And when it comes to what we’re passionate about, that’s what we should be.

In my period of restlessness, I felt that time was passing by too quickly. It felt like no matter how many days went by, I was in a viciously mundane cycle, repeating the same routine day in and day out and not getting any closer to what it is I truly want. But then I had a long hard look at the clock and realized that all the time I spend feeling restless is time I could spend bettering myself and my skills. I had to realize that time is not something that works around me but for me. The hours keep changing, the days keep coming which means I have to keep going. I can’t just sit and wait for it to pass. I can’t wait for my dreams to come true. I had to be devoted to the things I want and make time for them. I will always have time to better my current skills and to learn new ones. I will always have time to acquire new hobbies while rekindling my love for old ones. I will always have time to become who I am destined to be. I just have to use my time wisely and make it worthwhile.

Before we go, I want you to do something. Spend the rest of this month, the rest of your life even, devoting time to yourself. Do the things that make you happy, learn the skills you’ve always wanted to learn, take up the hobbies you never thought you would be able to, travel to the places that you only thought existed in books and movies, become the person who you’ve always wanted to be. When it comes to devoting your time to the things you want, allow the ticking of the clock to set the pace for efforts: steady and consistent. As long as the clock keeps ticking, so do you.