In all the crazy of scheduling in visits with people (previously known), I’m the most time poor holiday-er you’ve come across, I’ve had a couple of realisations. These epiphanies come to me in a variety of manners; self-reflection, discussions with friends, yoga, overhearing conversations of strangers on public transport and in coffee shops, etc. In one stress induced scheduling conflict, I understood that I am a ridiculously lucky gal. I have people in my life who want to do things with me. My time and presence is important to people. I guess I’ve never stopped to think about it outside of my own perspective. I knew I placed value on the time of others and appreciated them spending it with me, it didn’t cross my mind that my presence mattered as much on the receiving end. After my initial fluster to get everything to fall into place, I was incredibly humbled and the stress transformed into gratitude. How lucky am I to have these people surround me and the time and space to see this occurrence in life?
Then I got to thinking about time. I know that time is an important reference point in my life. Growing up with Dad, being on time became a focus to me as his post-military clock ran 20 minutes behind everyone else’s. At work time management is always being spoken about; how can you be more efficient, make better use of your available time, ensure you are having time for life balance away from work. I came to realise time is intertwined with respect for me when I was dating someone whose perception of timely communication was vastly different to mine. Time for self-care is spoken about largely in the readings for my Counselling course, in fact it’s in the Code of Ethics for being a counsellor that you will spend time looking after yourself. If I get really existential, which I’m prone to doing and usually it’s the pre-cursor for anything I do that needs an extra shot of courage, time is all we have. Plus, we don’t know how much of it we are allotted (I’ve been told I have a long life line, I am assuming that I’m good for a few years yet!). None of this is new information, I’ve had the time (ha ha) to reflect and think about it.
Continuing along the same existential train of thought, if all our final destinations are the same then it really does come down to how we spend our available time (or the journey as some may say). Again, not new information. There are many one liners that capture this idea way more succinctly than I’ve done. I think that sometimes those one liners hit the superficial conscious mind and we ‘get it’ without thinking about the wider implications. The point of my #recklessabandontour was to step back from my ‘usual’ life and take stock; frolicking through France with my bro and Emma, reconnecting with the North American folk and kicking some items off my ‘one day I will’ list. Now I’m in the midst of it and have discovered for myself that presence and mindfulness are more important to me when viewed in conjunction with time and how I want to use mine.
With all the pondering above as a backdrop, there are many things that have been achieved these past weeks. This is my ‘first one of two’ blog posts, the perspective of time is especially important when you give it to others voluntarily in the view of service and more in my mind when you have a deeper appreciation for those you already care about.
Stay tuned!
Happy Wandering
Hx