You And Your Time: Squandered Or Treasured?

You And Your Time:

Squandered Or Treasured?

by Lisa Cregier

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven’t thought about it, don’t have it on their schedule, didn’t know it was coming, or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, “How about going to lunch in a half-hour?” She would gasp and stammer, “I can’t. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday. I had a late breakfast. It looks like rain.” And my personal favorite: “It’s Monday.” She died a few years ago.  We never did have lunch together. Because we cram so much into our lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.

We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!  We’ll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet-trained.  We’ll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet.  We’ll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college. Life has a way of accelerating, as we get older.

The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of “I’m going to,” “I plan on,” and “Someday, when things settle down.”

However, when anyone calls my ‘seize the moment’ friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind to new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you’re ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of rollerblades.

My lips had not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It’s just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Hopefully, this will inspire you to do something you WANT to…not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Something To Think About …

Do you run through each day on the fly?

When you ask, “How are you?” Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed

with the next hundred chores running through your head?

Ever told your child, “We’ll do it tomorrow.”

And in your haste …Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch?  Let a good friendship die?

Just call to say “Hi”?

When you worry and hurry through your day

It is like an unopened gift…thrown away.

Life is not a race. Take it slower.

Hear the music before the song is over.