Time to Think Before Making Random Choices

This was a scrap piece of paper, slightly hidden in my paper bin. It had a hole in it yet I wanted to use it anyway. I tested ink colors on the top corner, far enough out of sight that I could trim the piece enough for them not to show. I took my time, hence the quote.

As I let the words dry I thought about how much time I have wasted being busy, or bustling, getting caught up in the madness of whatever, only to then complain that I didn’t have enough time. We only get twenty-four hours. No one gets more, can buy more nor can they get time back. Once it’s gone, too bad, it’s gone. When I was younger it seemed that time was a friend, it lasted forever and there was always more than enough. As I age that is no longer true. Time is now precious, savored and thoughtfully spent.

Thinking about time is not just about what you do with it, it is about the long term view on things. As we only have one thousand four hundred and forty-four minutes each day, what is the best way to utilize our time to get the most return on our labors? And if we ponder too hard and too long about how to spend our time we end up wasting more time. And if we don’t want to waste time we can easily get neurotic about each moment in our lives.

So it’s time to take a deep breath, pause and reevaluate what we want. It all goes back to knowing who you are and what is important to you, once that is clear then the choices of how you want to utilize the gift of time becomes a bit clearer. Sounds simple, right? Some days it is and some days it isn’t. Life is full of gifts, it is how we spend our time, our talk, our hearts and our thoughts. In essence it is how we are crafting the person we are and who we want to become. Being thoughtful about our focus and priorities creates a foundation for our decision making that then impacts how we spend our time. So when we are frustrated about time ticking away we need to regroup and remind ourselves what we want AND what is the best use of our time to get there. Be it focusing on family, work, community, relationships, creativity, rest, relaxation or simply having fun. When we use our time intentionally we are using the gift of time to help us be better, which make our world better, which makes the people around us better. The best use of our time is out there we simply need to think before we make random choices.