Time is something that I’m starting to appreciate. I’m learning to cooperate with it rather than fight it. I have struggled with it for a large portion of my life. Like many others, I experience the continual sense that time is running out. It is never behind and is always in front. Never does it appear to be strolling alongside me. It is a few steps ahead. It always seems miles away and always in the future, forcing me to consider the past rather than the present.
I want to be more at the moment and content with it, but it’s challenging to do. It’s difficult, but I know I’m not struggling alone. The lack of time is a universal complaint. What must be done now, I wonder? What exactly are we so desperate to achieve? Would we even be aware that we had finished that vague task?
I want to pursue many ideas, finish many projects, and visit many locations. Even writing is an endeavour. But what goal am I following? More acknowledgement? More books, pages, or text displayed on a screen? What will I then strive for? And will that emotion be sufficient? (I am sure it won’t be. Given what I’ve heard, those on the opposing side are unsatisfied.) In the meantime, a lot more is at stake. The obligations are the “duties” of daily living, including housework, childcare, self-care, and job-related planning and preparation. Everything seems to go on forever. Because of this, pursuing any goal appears futile. There is no end. There is always work to be done. How can I make time work for me rather than against me? How can I use it to my advantage?
Time works for us.
I’m coming to understand that time is a constructed concept. It had a reason for existing. Both this and that have their respective designated times. Order exists. Order existed before clocks, calendars, and task management tools were invented by humans. Nature exhibits order. We are surrounded by it. It occurs when a seed is planted, changing of the leaves, the return of spring and the melting of the snow. It can be seen in the sun rising, the earth rotating, the planets’ motion, and the stars’ formation.
Every day, we follow a route that begins immediately and ends later. We can find this path, so we can at least attempt. Try to live at least and enjoy each day; it is not a competition. We stroll across the garden. Every flower petal that falls on the ground serves as a reminder that there was once a seed and now there is a tree, that there was once a promise and now there is a product, that there was once sorrow and now there is joy, and that there was once loss and now there is gain. These alterations represent development and remind us that we are alive.
Yes, that is what time is for. It is there to give rather than to take. And it says, “You are here,” with each heartbeat that passes. “You’re in motion.” “You’re taking breaths.” “You are still alive.” That’s all there is to it.