TIME

Remember the days when time was not associated with money?
Remember the signs on the door, “gone fishing”?
Remember when people wrote a letter by hand and sent it by mail?

We want it yesterday. We get frustrated if it takes too long for the PC to boot up. We want our food fast. A vacation means carrying a cell phone to be in touch with the office. We can’t sit still – got to be on the move going somewhere.

I suppose time has changed me. I don’t want to be rushed. I want slow food. I want to enjoy nature. I want to read books in a leisurely manner. I guess I’m just getting old.

Sounds good to me!

Welcome to the club, Abe.

Ann

Abe,

Go to Bora Bora. There is nothing fast there.

I wonder about all those people on unemployment who raced madly going to work, doing what was best for the company, putting in extra time hoping that it would count for something. Other than looking for a job, I wonder how many are using their time to regenerate. Often getting fired or layed off is an opportunity to do what they always wanted to do.
Taking the time to do the right thing is not always available when working full time. Creativity yields results.
As has been said, "it's not how hard you work, but how smart you work."
Using time wisely means time available for oneself.

It depends on their situaiton. Those wth unemployment benefits running out and childen to feed are unrelaxed.

They are desperate to work at anything.

They have an opportunity all right--to be destitute and to lose their savings.

I recall one low point in our life. Dave had an impossible boss, I was in school, we had two teenaged children in private school.

Finally, in desperation I took a job , it was stressful to try to juggle home, school, work.

Thank God, the impossible boss was thrown from the company. We survived, but it was STRESSFUL!

No one ever says from their deathbed, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office."

I've learned my lesson the hard way. I came from the generation of women who could do it all and had to prove that, just like men, the job came before family and personal interests. I paid a deep price in relationships.

I ran up the ladder with a speedy trip down; the costs were greater than the gains. One foot out the door and the people for whom sacrifices were made replace you in a minute.

Now, in an early retirement while still job searching, I find that I am not as wise with my time as I envisaged. The days I thought would be spent writing seem to be full of "writer's block" and distractions.

The financial insecurity makes the time for doing things of choice less advantageous. The old saying, when I had the money I didn't have the time; now I have the time and not the money.

I had planned a retirement of travel and writing. I can write; but traveling is too costly. I am so grateful for at least a lifetime of travel experiences to remember.

As for those on unemployment, depression and hopelessness accompanied by family distress is common. A few find new avenues for self growth, the majority are bogged down with debt and no resources and no productive plan for their time.

So much for dreams...I wanted to walk to the base of Mount Everest. Instead, I walk 1.2 miles per day broken into 4 sessions and count that lucky.

Money is not an issue, but I would gladly exchange it for my health.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it
had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not
lived." —Henry David Thoreau

I read this when I was in high school.
It really spoke to me. And realized that I wanted that. I decided that I wasn't going to merely exist, I was going to live.

Al Stevens wrote:

No one ever says from their deathbed, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office."

I've never interviewed anyone on their deathbed. I don't know what they say. Do people wish they spent more time sitting on their asses reading novels, fishing, shopping, and watching TV? I'd rather be at the office.

I sure wish I had spent more time on internet forums nitpicking!

Only the humble servant who spent years climbing stairs to meet his masters needs and died suddenly while in service would look up at the heavenly staircase that appeared before him and say to the archangel "Oh no, not more bleedin stairs."

I am all for the slow paced life style in contrast to the stress laden quick quick more speed society we live in.

A very close friend of mine is a social worker at a renal clinic. Death is close at hand for many of the patients. She began a project to bring more self esteem to the patients and help them receive a more personal approach from staff. She would overhear staff saying, "Bed 20" etc. instead of patients' names.

She interviewed each patient about what they considered the most significant parts of their lives that would fit on one typewritten page. It was in three sections: My dreams as a child; my accomplishments as an adult; my legacy.

In all cases, when it reached their legacy they wished to be remembered as a good friend, an honest person and in general personal characteristics, nothing about their jobs. Another common thread around her question, "What would you change?" was summed up in the word "balance." Most felt that they had spent so much of their lives earning a living that they had not spent enough living outside their work.

You don't need money to enjoy the beauty of nature.

David, if one sees oneself as a humble servant spending his life meeting master's needs, then I suppose (the false dichotomy) slow paced life and speed speed speed are the only choices. Maybe it's a British thing.

My observation is that most people spend their lives watching celebrities, ball games and television shows. Do they wish they spent even more of it on their deathbeds? Whatever.

Abe F. March wrote:

You don't need money to enjoy the beauty of nature.

Yeah you do, if you don't live in a "nature" area. It takes money to get there. My family spent a lot of money getting to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Hawaiian state parks, Whidbey Island and other nature areas.

It takes money to do just about anything.

Look outside. Can you see birds or trees? Any flowers?
I suppose if one is blind they can't see the beauty of nature, however blind people hear the sounds and smell the fragrances.

Abe F. March wrote:

Look outside. Can you see birds or trees? Any flowers?

Yes, I can see trees, birds and flowers in my yard. So?

Do you enjoy what you see? Did it take money to look?

Yes and no. But again -so? Am I supposed to only look at that?

Time changes everything and everywhere; I remember one of the things I enjoyed about the parts of Europe where I lived was living in the city; walking around the city on the weekends and walking into the countryside. Walking paths were everywhere.

See as much as you are able to, LC. Don't save it for your retirement. Enjoy life now and get as much out of it as you can.

This is my backyard. Pleasant, but bland. It takes money to see different kinds of trees.

Shelagh wrote:

See as much as you are able to, LC. Don't save it for your retirement. Enjoy life now and get as much out of it as you can.

I do travel. I know people who live with shabby furniture, saying they'll buy the good stuff when the kids are grown. Or they'll travel then. Some travel now and leave the kids at home. On their deathbeds, do they wish they spent even more time doing that?