Sometimes I wish to slow time down, but I couldn’t find the pause button. Nobody can.
With a busy schedule and a filled-out calendar this past 2023, time has flown by way too soon for my brain to wrap around it properly.
January, February, March, and one quarter of the year have gone.
October creeped up and now we’re nearing the end of December 2023.
Each event and milestone that passes me by as we get closer to the end of the year makes it clearer that the perception of time itself can appear relative, moving faster than it had moved in my earlier years although the rules of having 24 hours a day remain the same.
My kids are growing bigger, I see them develop and change, maturing, and outgrowing their old clothes, toys, and interests.
The space between me and my husband on my king-size bed where my kids would squeeze into in the middle of the night is getting tighter, signifying that it is only a matter of time before all five of us wouldn’t be able to fit together on mum and dad’s bed anymore.
Changes happened at work as well. A change in my role came with more challenges but at the same time, better opportunities for career growth. The learning curve was high, and the adjustment period was somewhat rough for me. Now I’m 6 months into the new role, I can thankfully say I’ve made it through.
My parents too had gone through some medical issues this past year, my mum suffered some recurring chronic nerve pain on her face, and after multiple visitations with doctors including neurologists and dentists, she has started a treatment that works and is now doing well. However, the past 3 years have reminded me too that my folks are getting on in age, and my older brother and I have started to look into their long-term needs and the possibilities for future arrangements where they will need to relocate to be near us for medical support.
Finally, there is the fact that I am getting older, something that I personally still find hard to accept.
Part of it is due to my own expectations placed on myself, whereby what I wanted was yet to be fully achieved, and that my youthful years were limited.
So what is my takeaway?
Time is a resource, like money.
There is a limit to how much time you can have.
So in some ways, to waste time is to waste money.
And because of this, it is wise to make the most of the time we have now.
The days when we are healthy, well, and functional, are to be utilized and spent well.
Maybe it’s time to start goal-setting and living intentionally now.
So that when the seasons pass us by, as they shall with no stop button, and the wrinkles form and become more visible on our faces, we do not regret when looking back in time to our twenties, thirties, or forties and so on.
Because being wise with our time now may actually save us from having potential heartaches in the next decade.