Tempus Fugit

The Romans had a phrase, “Tempus Fugit” which simply means “time flies”.  They weren’t wrong were they?

Another year has begun and I don’t know why but they seem to come thicker and faster as you get older. I remember waiting what seemed like an eternity for the next birthday to come along, now they turn up almost before you’ve recovered from the previous one!

Everything seems to happen quicker, with less time for recovery in between. You look down at your calendar to find a spare weekend and there isn’t one. You can’t find the time for 30 minutes in the evening to go for a run.

In truth though, the time IS there. We just fill it poorly. Every person’s life is a combination of positive endeavour, responsibility and futile procrastination. It is the balance between these elements that is the difficult thing to strike.

How many times have you said to yourself recently, “I’d love to do that but I just don’t have the time”? And how many times has it that actually been the case? By that I mean a genuine lack of time not, “I need to procrastinate on the sofa tonight” or “well I could do this but I need to have a look at Facebook for an hour”.  

This is where the time goes I think. It gets frittered away on things which in all honesty don’t excite us or drive us on. We just do them because they are there and they don’t require any “extra” effort. You COULD go for a run tonight, or you could not. So you don’t. Because it is easier. Then you blame “lack of time”. The cycle can actually be quite devastating.

Obviously I am making sweeping generalisations here, based on a life which is relatively free of the burden of responsibility at the moment. I do appreciate that there are some things that do make real demands on your time; I know as I’m slowly learning myself how much time helping to raise a 6 year old takes up!

But ask yourself, deep down, do  you make full use of the time you have available to you? Should they take up as much of your time up as they do. Or can you use the time better?

There are times when I know I am wasting time, times when I could be doing something but choose not to under the cover of “there isn’t time. And I’m pretty active in terms of using my time to see and do things compared to most. There is still more that can be done, and you’d be amazed at how much time there actually is if you are determined enough to see it done.

It can be scary to get out of a comfort zone, and it can be difficult to get out of a rut. Having adult responsibilities can be draining and exhausting. However, you owe it to yourself to push yourself. Just that one extra thing a week that you don’t think you’ve got time for? Try and make the time.

Because time does fly. It also waits for no man, so you’d better get a move on and track it down.

Till next time,

DT