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Sorry I don’t have time

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you dear! Happy birthday to you!” And everyone is so happy and celebrative. Right from childhood to adulthood to ‘old’hood, that one day of every year makes us feel truly special. But what are we celebrating? Or rather, why are we celebrating? We are only getting older, not younger, and in many cases not even wiser.

We yearn uncontrollably for money and status. But if there is one thing we must yearn for, it is time. It is the biggest treasure of all, and also the scarcest. The only plausible way to ‘buy time’ if at all is through better health, diet and exercise. Even so, phrases like “I don’t have time” crop up multiple times a day as part of our conversations.

It is worth thinking about “I don’t have time.” It rarely means what is said. It only suggests, “This is not a priority for me.” There are certain draining, money-sucking pursuits and people (like agents calling us take on new loans we don’t need) that we can certainly push back on. But lack of time can never be an excuse for not getting physical exercise. Or meditation. Or a better diet plan. If we are saying no to these things for lack of time, then we have our priorities all mixed (messed) up.

One way to help stay on track, is to take up a challenge publicly (not necessarily via social media, but even committing to family members helps!). This makes it harder to give up midway, because we now have a public image to maintain.

Quitting is easy, prioritization is hard. As they say, “Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.”

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