Time

I thought to myself today, what is one thing everyone wants more of, what everyone needs, what people are obsessed with? T I M E

Not money, not things, not people… time.

It is so strange to think about, because just by talking about it we are living in it… Time never stops, and I think that is the reason people are obsessed with it.  Because there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop it.  There is nothing we can do to fix it.  It’s just go go go all the time.  However, there ARE things we can do to change it.  To understand it.  To be more comfortable living our life without worrying we are wasting it, or what we are missing.

I think the thing some people don’t understand is how to use their time wisely.  And it’s not only that.  It’s how to not regret what they have already done with their time.  There is no going back. No matter how bad we want to fix or change things. We can’t.  As humans we have to accept that and move on.  But because we are human there ARE things we can do to better our time in the present and future.  We have the capabilities to learn from our past and let it smush around in our brains for a little while, and then come to a consensus on how we want to move forward.  And that, that my friends is something we take for granted.

People just live their lives without actually living it.  We just get on this life train and we go till it stops or breaks down.  But we miss all the exit signs, all the stop signs, all the other directional signs screaming to other paths.  We sometimes are just so fast pace that we miss them. If you want to change something, if you want to fix something, you have all the power to do so.  You don’t need more seconds in a day, you just have to change the way you use your seconds.

I know it’s really hard to get out of your head.  When you’re in the moment, living your life, thinking about all the things you have to do, all the people you have to follow up with, all the items on your to do list that won’t cross themselves off… I get it.  I have lists, notes and stickies everywhere.  But you can’t let yourself get overwhelmed with that. 

I will share two tips that really helped me focus on my future without worrying about time, and how to stay less anxious in the moment when I started to feel like I was running out of time.

1.     I started to write everything down.  If I thought about it for more than 5 seconds and it lingered in my brain, that meant it was important to me.  I wrote it down. Big or small.  I really started to become a goal-oriented person.  I know I already wrote a whole post just on goals (which I suggest reading) but writing it all down helped me realize which goals were important and where to store those goals in my brain.  Was it going to be my number #1 big dream goal that I thought about daily or was it just a life goal that I hope to accomplish at some point.  Writing everything down helps me organize my thoughts, and it makes me feel like my goals and thoughts are in a safe place. It makes me feel like I won’t forget anything, and that I don’t have to rush through life checking things off of my list.

2.     The second thing that helped me was I started to do everything in the moment.  I know this sounds counterintuitive because it may make you more worried about time, but it really helps.  And I mean this for only small tasks… I think sometimes life just passes us by and one day we think “oh my god I haven’t talked to so and so in so long!”  I didn’t want to have those thoughts any more.  Or “oh no I have to send this email that I forgot.”  If I had a thought that was a quick fix, I stopped whatever it was I was doing, and I just complete the task at hand.  Simple as that.  It made so much more room in my brain.  And it made me less anxious about my time and my present time.  If a friend’s name pops into my head, I will immediately text them and say “hi! I was just thinking of you.”  It’s that simple.  And it really made me feel better about all my relationships and I didn’t feel like I had to scramble to keep up with everyone.  I wasn’t running out of time.

I think we are a very fast paced generation.  Which also could be the reason we are always begging for more time.  Cause we rush through most things.  I have really tried to slow down.  And just enjoy all my seconds.  No matter what I am doing. And it has been harder that I thought. Even trying to just enjoy the music that plays in my car, without worrying about what song I want to play next…

I know we will all wake up tomorrow and keep going on the treadmill of life that never stops, but I do hope this helped you a little. Even as I type this it is 10PM on the dot and I am already thinking about when I will wake up and what I have to do tomorrow.  It’s hard to slow down.  It’s hard to just think about the present and not worry about your past or future, but I am trying and I hope you do too.