Time
Alright, so here I am, on the night of the last day of my wonderfully fun and relaxing week long vacation in Captiva. It only seemed appropriate to blog about time. Certainly as the first few days passed while we were here, time was moving incredibly slowly, filling the days with time in the pool, tennis, cooking at the cottage, swimming in the ocean and of course, countless philosophical debates - yet only two days had passed. Surely the rest of the week would feel like forever! We could do everything we wanted! And yet, here we are, at the end of the week, trying to figure what on earth we managed that made the time fly by so quickly. Truth be told, I think most of the people are ready to head back, but it sure is nice to be able to sit out on the patio and enjoy the beautiful weather here. (Minus the mosquitos! Apparantly you really can't escape them, even by going to another state!
But what becomes far more fascinating than that is how we look at time on a broader scale (seriously? did you expect to read some post of mine that doesn't have some sort of existential undertones? :p). It's so easy to not realize where we're really spending your time. Something a close friend said really sums it up (I wish I could quote it directly, but the conversation is on my work machine) pertaining directly to the subject. It was something to the effect of, "Fuck not having enough time - the only live once here and we almost never spend time on the things that are really important to us. Sometimes we have to create time for those things, even if we can't 'fit them in' to our busy lives". Thanks Pat - you're always there for inspiration ;) And I tend to agree - so often we make the excuses - 'I just don't have time' and 'there are so many things I need to take care of' (myself certainly guilty). But you know what? We need to change to make sure that you're making time for the things that really are important. Just saying "I wish I was doing _____" or "I need to spend more time doing _____" or (worst of all) "Something I want to accomplish eventually is _____". Enough of that! Things like that need to be acted upon in the here and now. It's no reason to all of a sudden throw life into an upheaval, but to make sure that the time you spend outside of the necesseties are pushing towards those goals, those desires. I know it's something I intend to work on.
And even on a different note, think about the time that has already passed - the things that you certainly can't change. Personally, I can only speak for around 25 years of that time. And even then - if you know me at all, you know that my memory of my childhood is spotty at best. And not much better growing up. I think it's subconciously a reason I take so many pictures. Tangible memories. But seriously - think about where you were 1 year ago. What was your outlook back then? What was important to you? What things were you striving for? What was driving you? What were you excited about? What were you sad about? How similar were you to how you are now? How about 5 years ago? Really sit down and think about it. Personally, 5 years ago puts me in the middle of a summer after my second year in college, wide eyed and working like mad while goofing off with friends, living day to day, not even thinking about life after this 4 year long 'camp' with lots of classes. How about 10 years ago? Isn't it amazing how differently we can think in such short periods of time? It's really humbling when you think about it. Yet another thing I hope to keep in mind more often, as it pertains to me and the people I care about.
On a simpler note - two of the books I started and finished on this trip were Many Lives, Many Masters (recommended strongly by a friend), which turned out to be an incredibly fascinating read. I'll probably go back and re-read it later just for fun. And A Cat Named Darwin, which I randomly picked up at my favorite bookstore in the world, Bookpeople a few years ago, because, well, the kitty on the cover was cute, and it sounded interesting :) It actually turned out to be a much deeper and thought provoking read (not suprising since I was expecting a simple, shallow, vacation book. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it. So much so that I've already loaned it to someone else to read :p Oh, and for the video gamer in me, I totally went through Metroid: Zero Mission for the second time on hard mode, which proved to be (but of course) an absolutely phenominal glory of gaming splendor :)
Alright, it's time for bed. And then back to the world in Dallas and back to work on Monday. Nice and rejuvenated :)
But what becomes far more fascinating than that is how we look at time on a broader scale (seriously? did you expect to read some post of mine that doesn't have some sort of existential undertones? :p). It's so easy to not realize where we're really spending your time. Something a close friend said really sums it up (I wish I could quote it directly, but the conversation is on my work machine) pertaining directly to the subject. It was something to the effect of, "Fuck not having enough time - the only live once here and we almost never spend time on the things that are really important to us. Sometimes we have to create time for those things, even if we can't 'fit them in' to our busy lives". Thanks Pat - you're always there for inspiration ;) And I tend to agree - so often we make the excuses - 'I just don't have time' and 'there are so many things I need to take care of' (myself certainly guilty). But you know what? We need to change to make sure that you're making time for the things that really are important. Just saying "I wish I was doing _____" or "I need to spend more time doing _____" or (worst of all) "Something I want to accomplish eventually is _____". Enough of that! Things like that need to be acted upon in the here and now. It's no reason to all of a sudden throw life into an upheaval, but to make sure that the time you spend outside of the necesseties are pushing towards those goals, those desires. I know it's something I intend to work on.
And even on a different note, think about the time that has already passed - the things that you certainly can't change. Personally, I can only speak for around 25 years of that time. And even then - if you know me at all, you know that my memory of my childhood is spotty at best. And not much better growing up. I think it's subconciously a reason I take so many pictures. Tangible memories. But seriously - think about where you were 1 year ago. What was your outlook back then? What was important to you? What things were you striving for? What was driving you? What were you excited about? What were you sad about? How similar were you to how you are now? How about 5 years ago? Really sit down and think about it. Personally, 5 years ago puts me in the middle of a summer after my second year in college, wide eyed and working like mad while goofing off with friends, living day to day, not even thinking about life after this 4 year long 'camp' with lots of classes. How about 10 years ago? Isn't it amazing how differently we can think in such short periods of time? It's really humbling when you think about it. Yet another thing I hope to keep in mind more often, as it pertains to me and the people I care about.
On a simpler note - two of the books I started and finished on this trip were Many Lives, Many Masters (recommended strongly by a friend), which turned out to be an incredibly fascinating read. I'll probably go back and re-read it later just for fun. And A Cat Named Darwin, which I randomly picked up at my favorite bookstore in the world, Bookpeople a few years ago, because, well, the kitty on the cover was cute, and it sounded interesting :) It actually turned out to be a much deeper and thought provoking read (not suprising since I was expecting a simple, shallow, vacation book. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it. So much so that I've already loaned it to someone else to read :p Oh, and for the video gamer in me, I totally went through Metroid: Zero Mission for the second time on hard mode, which proved to be (but of course) an absolutely phenominal glory of gaming splendor :)
Alright, it's time for bed. And then back to the world in Dallas and back to work on Monday. Nice and rejuvenated :)
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