Time is not tangible, but yet we all feel its effects as we age. Time passes you by while you are standing still or when running at full speed. You can't outrun time; it's too fast and tireless.
Time waits for no one. Some people try to save time, but time can't be saved like money. Money can be added; time can only be subtracted. Some people try to manage time in an effort to make the most of it, but it's not the time that gets maximized, it's the effort that really gets managed.
From the time we are born, time surrounds and engulfs us. Our time of birth marks our first introduction to the significance and power of time. The final documented information that is recorded in the story of our lives is time of death. The beginning and the end stand at opposites sides of the time continuum, but they often intersect. Whenever something ends, something new begins. It's a cycle that sustains both life and opportunities.
We occupy but a fragment of space in the spectrum of the time continuum. Life is finite. Time is infinite. The fact that we don't know how much time we have on earth makes it all the more intriguing. Some people take note of the average life expectancy in the U.S. to gauge how long they might live (around 77 for women and 71 for men).
Our ability to consciously live with the presence of time gets lost while focusing on how long we might live. Time available, and time used productively are very different. Time reveals all things. Employers get suspicious when candidates have gaps in their resumes with time unaccounted for. Criminals need to have an alibi for what they were doing at certain times when crimes are committed.
When opportunity knocks, it means that your time has arrived. When you were better in the past, than you can possibly be in the future, your time has past. Time does not discriminate. Good times and bad times will be experienced by all. Lovers know that love takes time...they also know that time heals a broken heart.
We harbor our deepest resentment toward those who we feel have wasted our time. After all, time is our most precious and elusive commodity. But the truth is that we waste more of our own time than we allow others to. We can't stop the clock on today, and we can't go back to yesterday - though the idea of doing so is immensely appealing to those yearning to erase mistakes.
Society has always been obsessed with time travel; going backwards or forwards in time. The concept of the time machine captures the imagination of many. It's a quixotic notion. Going backwards would allow you to erase mistakes, but shifting events around in time would have a devastating domino effect which would alter your growth and life.
Timing is everything.
We get what we need, when we need it, to grow as people and to experience the full richness of life. These are opportunities that greet us daily, or every time we receive the wonderful gift of a brand new day.
Those who respect time make the most of it. They know that time is not an onerous foe, but a motivational friend. They know that in any moment in time their lives could change, and that time in the future is not guaranteed, nor is their place in it. When you take time to think about time, you appreciate the moment in time that you are blessed to have.
Gian Fiero is an author and speaker who lectures throughout the country.