Time Flies

Time flies over us, but leaves it’s shadow behind ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

The end of November.  Time keeps on keeping on, summer a mere memory left behind. We have so many quotes to describe the fast passage of time and how life is too short to waste.  As I stare down my next birthday, the date on the calendar a reminder of how truly fast time seems to go.  It feels like yesterday that I returned to my home town, not 3 and half years ago.  I remember being a teenager and time passed so slowly.  It was as if it was stuck in thigh high mud and fighting with every step not to stay stuck.  Summer vacation from school seemed to take ages to arrive, yet if I blinked it was over again and it was back to school already.  It’s easy when I’m looking at the calendar and reflecting on my time, to question what I’ve accomplished and has it been enough?  

Time keeps on slippin’ slippin’ slippin’ into the future ~ Steve Miller Band

I also recognize all the ways I describe not having enough time to do all the things, see all the things and be all the things. That there are not enough hours in the day. That somehow we are powerless to squeeze in the things we truly want to do, see, be.  As time passes seemingly faster every year, on a day to day basis, there is a perception, a palpable disappointment and “true story” realization that I can’t fit it all in.  My “To-Do” list is not realistic, overly ambitious and from the start of every day, a set up to fail in completing it all.  I know how fast time goes by and I know there are not enough hours in the day, and yet the list does not get any more realistic.  Am I an optimist?

While I do accept that I can’t do it all, all the time. Life is about decisions and choices. I make a decision and a choice every day to prioritize my morning cycling class over sleeping in or reading that book I’m dying to read, the one that is collecting dust and coffee ring stains on my bedside table. I choose to watch the next episode of Ozark rather than write in my journal or blog. All of these are decisions. Choices made.  With the precious minutes I have, I decide each day, hour and minute how to use it.

I realize we don’t all have the luxury of these types of choices. And I feel privileged and grateful to be able to decide at each turn how I will spend my time. As the grey day parts for some sun and blue sky, a memory of summer, I am reminded of the passage of time. Summer is right around the corner. Again. Am I happy with the choices I made in spending my time?

Between the “TO DO” lists and the ins and outs of daily life, I have found that if I look close I can find time for what’s most important ❤️