Long post, despite the suggestions to keep them short like they have been recently. International regulars, don't hesitate to say hello.
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It's about time someone talked about time. The only thing we really have that's ours, something that we trade every day, It's our currency; our gold ingot. It's how we can get what we want, depending on how good we are at trading it. We trade away time for anything and everything we receive; knowledge, skill, gain, business, wisdom, power; almost anything we desire and everything we have. It's the currency used to barter for the fabric of life, the essence of living.
It follows the law of economics; the more we spend, the less we have. The less we have, the harder it gets to spend more. The harder it gets to spend more, the more we appreciate what little we have left and regret on having spent so much on nothing. It's the only currency that we are born rich with. In a previous post we remembered how we used to spend hours thinking on how to burn the next few hours. Thinking about that led me to this post. It's a funny thing: TIME.
There are a few other rules to this game. You can never stop spending it unless you run out, which means that it only matters where you spend it because one way or another it is being lost. The more you spend the greater the toll it takes on you. Wrinkles, gray hair, slower reflexes and rickety bones are inevitable unless you spend some time at the gym. You can save time, but never to keep...just to be able to do a little extra with it. You can waste time if you're feeling a little rich, but always remember that the clock is ticking. Once given, it can never, ever be taken back. Time is not always traded for financial gain...remember this rule carefully. If you try to trade time for capital gain all the time - you have a very big chance of being penalized for it. These rules are strict my friends, try to play smart. The consequences can be grave: you can lose a large chunk of time, or even fatal - you become bankrupt.
It doesn't always have to be spent alone, after all there's only so much you can do by yourself. It can be spent with loved ones, family or good friends; which is always a fair deal because they'll spend just as much as you do. Spend it meditating, write a bit...create, think, innovate. Spend it more in a good mood than bad, you have much less than you think you do. That's another funny thing about time; the rate of trade speeds up as you get older..as you gain more experience in the game - it's almost like your days are getting shorter and you feel pressured by some unknown, intangible force.
Spent time isn't called time anymore, it becomes the past. There is a good and bad thing about the past, the ability to look back on it - the unfortunate ability to regret. Poorly spent time carries a heavy burden of regret..and it will always be there. No matter how far behind you leave your past, your past will never leave you. It has this funny way of re-appearing at anytime, anywhere, anyplace. Time squandered at the wrong places will always get you nothing but regret, and regret is among the darkest things you could purchase. However, time spent at the right places will bring you laughter, joy, good health, smiles, love and care. The same ability to look back will always be a joyful experience, and will leave you with something from the other side of the scale; a lasting memory.
Time is slipping out of our hands; sand through an hourglass, water through the soil. Absolutely unstoppable, immensely unmeasureable, impossibly irreversible, and will always be sadly missed. Be sure to start keeping track of where your time is being spent, because when you start running low at the end of your run...not many people will be out there sharing their's with you. This is the one last thing we need to know about time - there will be plenty of people out there to take it from you, but very few to give it.
I appreciate the time you have given me to read this, and I have spent just as much time writing it. I hope what you spent was worth what you received, and what you will spend in the future will be spent with the knowledge that you have traded your time for. Another funny thing about time; you never realize the value of how much someone else has spent on you, until they have no more left to spend.
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ray