Taking Time

Time is a precious thing and sometimes I feel as if it is the only thing we really have in this life besides a body. Life is ruled by time. From the moment that something is born or created it is also the beginning of the countdown until its death and demise. Life is a constant cycle of death and rebirth and seems to be governed by the concept of time. 

There has been a lot of death and transition happening in my life recently. It has been making me think and wonder a lot about the nature of reality and the meaning of life. How can these topics not be on my mind when a cluster of events continue unfold in my life, almost as if I am dreaming it. 

As most people, I become distracted with the mundane — Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and all the other social media that helps me to numb out after a long day. Instead of reading or writing, I need to turn my brain off because of the emotional baggage that I tend to take on and carry because of my job working the mental health field. It is difficult to process some of the stories that I hear and hold space for. 

During my time as a residential counselor for at-risk teenagers, I heard many stories of parents not paying attention to their children. My heart ached as I listened to the residents’ stories about their parents using and abusing substances and alcohol or being completely disengaged from their responsibilities as an adult and a parent. Can we blame them for being shitty parents? Many of us probably want to and I know I first wanted to because the stories broke my heart. How could these parents treat a child like that? Why would they bring a child into the world if he or she were going to continue to use substances and neglect the very life that depends on them? Do I blame the parents? No, not really. I want to, believe me, but I also am aware that many of the children’s parents live in poverty and are sometimes doing the best that they can. 

We live in a culture and a society where time equals money. We constantly need to be doing something to make our lives work. No matter what happens to you, life doesn’t seem to slow down at all. We have to continue to keep on moving and working. What happens when we stop taking time for ourselves? We being to lose part of our self. We forget who we really are and what we are really doing. We get caught up in the rat race of life and forget about the bigger picture sometimes. It is easy to stay in the rat race when the rest of the culture forgets to slow down. We all need a reminder. 

I encourage you, if you are reading this, take some time today or tomorrow to simply just sit and meditate. Spend some time with your family or a loved one that you do not see often. I invite you to even reach out via social media or make a phone call to someone that you care about, maybe someone that means a lot in your life, but simply have forgotten about due to the chaos of your hectic life. 

I invite you, today, to take time for yourself and for your family. Play a game. Sit around and talk with each other. Watch a movie together. Maybe take a hike or go for a nice summer swim. How about cook a nice meal and sit down to enjoy it together? 

I am sure many of you find time to do this already, but some people have a difficult time doing so, and that is alright. Life is crazy. We just need to be reminded to take time and slow down. So, this is just a friendly reminder to take a day to yourself and enjoy the little things in your life.