Time to think about what time means and what it’s worth
Time out! Let’s think about time here for a minute. When I wrote about time last year it was when we were staying home trying to avoid getting COVID and wondering why Zoom meetings seemed so much longer than in person. But we’re still COVID conscious and we’re still concerned with time.
In a recent conversation with two other women I was struck by how often the word “time” was used by all three of us.
For example, “I don’t have much time,” and “How much time does it take to bring more coffee?” and “I had a great time.”
That’s when my curious mind took over. Well, that and I knew I was close to deadline on this column so I asked people what they thought of when they heard the word “time.”
The first answer came from my husband. He said he thought of the concept of time. Then he launched into a sort of philosophical speech about the passage of time. That’s a lawyer for you.
Remember when you were a kid and it seemed like forever between birthdays and Christmas? The older you get the faster the time whips by. Birthdays roll around so fast it’s difficult to remember exactly how old you are.
When I took my friend Joyce Gregory to lunch we talked about age and I was sure I was a year younger than I am. I told her I simply would not give in and would stick to the age I said and it was one year younger than her. “You’re a month older than me! Just keep saying you’re that age plus 15 months, then just keep adding months,” she said laughing.
Susan Addington said to her the word brings timeless to mind. She said as in timeless classics. Ruthie Williams says time to her means being on time. No wonder she’s such a punctual person. She added, “And it seems there is never enough time.” Ruthie retired about six months ago and says that has changed her perception of time. Kate Miller says if she thinks about time she is reminded of how it seems to fly by.
Then we talked about time well spent. Yes, a refreshing cat nap is time well spent. So is a five minute break from work, or a long conversation to clear the air between two people.
Perhaps then at the end of each day we need to reflect on the last 12 hours to see if most of them were time well spent. Personally I doubt I’ll do that. If you don’t want the answer, don’t ask the question.
A few days ago my husband and I spent two hours watching a really stupid movie. It was so bad we wanted to see how it ended. Then we were both wondering why we wasted that much time when it could have been well spent. It made me think how often I don’t value my time. Sometimes it’s downright frustrating that we can’t control time, we can’t turn it back or make more of it.
Regardless of what comes to mind when you think of time, remember what the very wise Benjamin Franklin said: “Does’t thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”
That said, thank you for taking time to read this. Hope you don’t think it was a waste of an important commodity, time.