Making the most of the moments
So yet again I’m apologising for having not posted - it seems that time has been escaping me recently, a concept which prompted some thoughts, which in turn prompted me to write this post.
This term has been especially “busy” - so much so it seems to have set a precedent. Most new terms, come September, involve a lot of work if you’re schedule is based on a conventional school system - which inadvertently, through the people I work with, is my schedule. With something on most weekends and a fair few evenings of the week, we rarely find time to sit still for “long enough” to relax.
We place a premium on doing nothing as relaxation, which I feel I may have mentioned previously, as respite from our hectic lives, which in turn seems to set a “quick-fix” mentality in our minds. I know it certainly gets like that for me - I’m fully aware that when I’m facing a busy week, I don’t look at using the gaps in between things to relax, I look for the evening or day off that follows - which this term has been less frequent than I’ve known in this season of work.
Thinking back on it, my inability to see the gaps started when I was back in college. My second year was quite busy, and I didn’t cope with it very well. I was in college for four days of the week, in the bakery for Friday and Saturday, and had church on Sunday - leaving very little time to do the work I was required to do, and when I did have free time, I didn’t necessarily want to do anything but sleep or do nothing. I became numb.
This numbness always seems to appear when I don’t allow myself time to breathe and relax, whether that be in taking the time in the middle of my day to go swimming, or sitting in my room stitching, reading, listening to music, etc, or whether that be sitting in front of the TV on my day off catching up with the episodes of my favourite series’ I’ve missed.
It’s taken a while to work out the cause of the numbness, and I think the reason is this: I don’t allow my brain space, so my brain decides to make space, whether that’s by me forgetting things, sleeping in, or at worst case - the onset of the dreaded numbness.
So a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take control (figuratively speaking). November is usually my busiest month, as I like to get making ready for Christmas. In previous years, this has generally been cards, because for me, it’s fairly simple and requires little thought.
Last year however, I decided to make hanging decorations (oddly enough, at the exact same time that my mother had thought of the very same thing) to sell, and for the profits to go to living water international. So this year, I’m continuing with that vein of creativity and as a result, I’ve taken to drawing around templates and cutting out shapes in my lunch break (much to the surprise/annoyance of my table companions), to stitching when I’ve got a free moment/watching television, to stuffing the decorations when I’ve got enough and a clean spare duvet or some wadding to pull apart.
A friend recently mentioned in passing that they didn’t have enough time between all the things they had to do, to do the things they want to do. I realised as they were speaking that if we want to do something enough, we need to make time for it. Much like my squeezing in as much creativity as possible into my spare moments, we need to make the most of the time we have.
I’ve loved and lost some very key people in my life, and I’m fully aware that one day others I love will pass away, but if their loss has taught me anything it’s to make the most of the time you have as two of these were people who in some opinions died “before their time”.
So how do we make the most of our time? I think it’s an eternal question, and each person will have their own individual answer. For me, it’s making things, reading, writing, allowing time to think in the gaps and understanding which activity suits which gap, but for someone else it could be going for a run, for another sitting with their family and enjoying some quality time.
It’s a question I feel we need to ask ourselves frequently, otherwise life is going to pass us by (something I’m bizarrely over-aware of at such a young age). If we’re too busy to enjoy the time we have, there’s something that may need to change. I’m fortunate in that I have a job which I love, which involves working with some thoroughly excellent people, and have family and friends I can see on a frequent basis, and I’m fully aware that isn’t the case for everybody. If anything, I hope that you can find something you can enjoy in your day to day, week to week, month to month life, to remind you that life is for living, not numbly stumbling through.
So as I sit here writing, I hope to bask in the beauty of the moment - be it a group of moments, or one moment at a time - I want to appreciate the moments I have, and continue to learn how to use them wisely.
May you find peace, joy and love in the moments you have - on the bus, in the queue at the Post Office, in your lunch break; and may you share that with those around you.
