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Time is precious
I’m perplexed by time. It ticks, it toks. It can be tracked, yet lost. It passes, it flies. It’s spent, it’s wasted. It’s earned, it runs and eventually… time runs out.
As of the writing of this particular passage of the newsletter, it’s 16 hrs before it reaches your inbox. It’ll take some time for you to decide whether or not to open it; even more time to decide to read it. It took me quite a bit of time to gather the courage to draft this week’s note, and as I sit before this blank page, I consider the amount of time it’ll take to finish this draft, watching the time tick away – a gentle reminder that whether or not I’m present and aware of the time that passes, it passes.
I believe, without googling to confirm, that the world’s first metaphors were created to reference the elusiveness and the complexity of time.
Time is precious, after all, and we’re constantly reminded of its preciousness. Just some hours ago, the sun rose from the other side of the world, and it’s setting just West of me now.
Just days ago I promised myself to draft this note, and now it’s 15 hours before it's released to its 82 readers.
Now: if time is precious, why is it also wasted?
I consider this often and regularly propose the question to myself: how can I maximize each moment of time in my life?
There is a window of time, between 4:30 and 4:50 AM in which time seems far from real to me. I wake when my dog, Cookie, slips her head through the doorframe and climbs into the bed. Despite the precious time of day, Cookie is far from careful, often headbutting me to shake me from my slumber. I let her in, and for a moment of time enjoy her company, before I rise to meditate.
Prior to my meditation, I take note of the time on a digital clock on the bookshelf and sit for an undetermined amount of time. I meditate and then like clockwork, I bring the awareness back to my body and take note of the time on the same digital clock:
4:42… 12 minutes since Cookie emerged from the living room and woke me.
From the time Cookie wakes me, to the time I come to from my meditation, it’s always, roughly, 12 minutes of time.
It’s time well spent, in my opinion.
However, when it doesn’t go to plan, and I glance at my phone to check my YouTube analytics, or respond to text messages to advertise my superior wake up time, I lose the time and it’s no longer 4:42, but 4:55. Then I have little time and I have to rush out the door and drive to the gym to meet my friends, in time.
That time, which was better spent in mediation and visualizing the value I’d bring to my day, is now gone.
Time does indeed fly.
Be precious
I’m not well researched on the psychological impact of time. Nonetheless, I’m confident that we’re all connected by our similar feelings of time.
It can make us eager, or equally anxious. We can feel the time pass with each second, or it can feel as if no time has passed at all. We can wish for more time or wish we hadn’t spent any time at all.
And in the interest of time, I’d like to waste no more and get to the point of this musing:
Be precious with your time, for it’s the only time you have.
This pertains to all of the ways in which time can be spent. Perhaps the impetus for this week’s newsletter is the time I spent prior to it’s release:
Each day this week, most moments of time were spent creating with others. We wrote (clearly not newsletters), we filmed, we edited, and we created memories of time that aren’t easily forgotten. We did it because we enjoy creating and we’re aware of how little time we have to do so.
But not while we were creating. While we were writing or filming, it felt as if we had all the time in the world. And then, as if no time had passed at all, it was over.
This is why I’m perplexed by time.
I’m not writing this newsletter to brag about my incredibly well spent time this week. Even with my past 7 days of creation, it fails in comparison to the amount of time I’ve wasted this year.
Perhaps that's the real point of this musing:
We waste so much time…
With people that aren’t aligned with our greater purpose.
With frivolous apps and internet sites that distract us from time passing.
With substances that numb our perception of time.
With thoughts and ideas that we don’t spend the time to bring to fruition.
Even as I write this, I cycle through various opportunities to set the written word aside and distract myself with something far less challenging.
Fortunately, I’m running out of time to finish this, and time is a great motivator (in addition to being the cause of the first metaphor, I’m confident that there are more metaphors for time than any other concept in our existence).
If you take the time to read this note, it is my hope that despite the brevity, you can feel the amount of time it took me to write it.
Just kidding.
It is my hope that you’re reminded of the preciousness of your time and inspired to strive for maximizing the amount of time in creation. I’m confident that the feeling I experienced, lost in time and enjoying every moment of it, because I was creating, is universal.
I believe this is one of a few constants in our first three weeks: creating, and having the attention to keep creating, leads to time well spent.
And as I wrote last week, stay optimistic, even when feeling discouraged by the amount of time creating takes. For as the post on your instagram that you’ve seen 6 times in the past 24 minutes will remind you: good things take time.
Thank you for letting me sit with you.
– mills
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