The irreversibility of time

Time is such an ambiguous concept. We often say, "I'm sorry, but I don't have enough time." The irony is that each and everyone of us has the exact same amount of time. I don't know of anyone that has more than sixty minutes in an hour or more than 24 hours in a day. What's even more ironic is that I'm fairly certain everyone only has 365 days in a year. That is with the exception of leap year, which happens every four years. Regardless, I've yet to meet anyone who knowingly has more or less of this wild unit of measurement.

Unfortunately, as the years go by there's a good chance our number of years are decreasing. That's just life. We don't know how many hours or minutes will end up being the totality of each of our lifetimes.

Webster's defines time as a nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. Wow. That's powerful. If we don't know how much time we have, and yet, know what we do have is irreversible, that can be a little scary. Now, that's not to say choices and decisions cannot be reversed. We are often blessed with the opportunity to change a previous choice or given a "second chance," so to speak. For instance, say you didn't like your first score on the SAT, then you can retake it. That doesn't mean you can reverse the construct of time. You may get your score up, but you will use more of your allotted time units to achieve the higher score. Once the hours and minutes have been used they cannot be repeated. They are gone. Something such as a higher standardized test score may be important enough to you to spend more of your time units. But make no mistake, you cannot and will not get those hours back.

It's not all doom and gloom. Quite the contrary, I find it very liberating to know I only have an indeterminable amount of time left in this lifetime. Once I began to think of time as irreversible, I learned that the word no can be a complete sentence. Think about it. If you only have a certain number of years in a lifetime, then why not be more selective when choosing how to use them. If someone asks you to do something that doesn't feel okay, just say NO. Period. Full stop. No explanation.

We probably all have family members or friends that seem to spend their days and months serving someone else's interests. Hey, it's all about choices. No judgement, but is that how you want to spend this limited irreversible construct that totals up to YOUR lifetime.

Today I decided to lay in the pool and listen to music. It was phenomenal. Don Henley's "In a New York Minute" came on. FYI- I love Don Henley. I mean who doesn't. But he reminds us in the lyrics that in a New York minute everything can change. That could be scary, but it can also be extremely liberating and refreshing. Everyone has had a bad day before, so there's some comfort in knowing regardless of any choices we make, there are factors outside of our control that can change any current circumstances we may find ourselves in.

Be intentional with how you use these miraculous time units we are given. Do not let anyone else shame you about how you spend yours. Would you try to tell someone else how to spend theirs? Your choices may not be the same as someone else's; and that's okay. You get to choose how you use your minutes and hours. Do not let ANYONE tell you how to use them. And don't let them shame you for choosing differently than them. God gave these invaluable units to each of us, so choose wisely...and the next time someone suggests something that feels icky or it's just not what you want to do, say NO. That is a complete sentence. These minutes are irreversible so be a badass and use them however you choose. Don't forget. They are limited.