Time is the longest distance between two places.
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie
I may be prophetic. When I set my goal of a post a week back in December, I plotted out what I figured I’d write about, tagging each week with a title and brief concept of the idea, if necessary. When I pulled up the list now, late in the evening on Sunday at what amounts as the last possible moment to hit my deadline, I couldn’t help but laugh. And not because of how late this is, but because of the week it’s prefacing.
With my role at work being down a position, I’ve been putting off the extra time I know I need to do, but at the end of the last week and from conversations with clients I realized that this upcoming week is a week of deadlines that I’ve inherited and without quite realizing. So, I got it in my head that I’d be putting in extra hours every day to make sure none of those deadlines are missed. Doable, I thought to myself, if a little tight. Came home from work, mentioned that this was the plan to the missus and then settled in for the weekend.
But, as the weekend went on and we talked about things, I realized what this week is. Work deadlines, sure, but what about the school Gala this weekend? Or the fact that my family is coming into town? Or the fact that the school play is this week, all of my kids are in it, and it’s happening both Thursday and Friday night? Or the fact that my oldest is having a family night at his youth group Wednesday night? Or the fact that soccer practice is on Tuesdays? How, exactly, am I planning to tackle all this and come out ahead?
Well, truth be told… I don’t know. Maybe I won’t. I had a degree of confidence going into the weekend that’s all but gone now, but it is what it is, no? I can only work with what I’ve got. Life, lemons, etc.
The ironic thing is that this article wasn’t supposed to be about that kind of time management. I was planning to be in the early time of Exodus and using this to discuss what it’s like to have taken a step back from my normal distractions and giving that time to family. Turns out I didn’t need Exodus for that after all.
Part of the reason this took so long to write is because that’s mostly what this weekend was. Giving time to others. The family, in going to see the Super Mario movie tonight and spending time hanging out with them / church / soccer game / etc. Friends, in attending an annual crawfish boil hosted at one of their houses and a birthday at another’s. Life’s just been absolutely packed, and I’m doing everything I can to be as present as possible for it. Not treating it like it’s a theft of my productivity time, but something that’s both right and necessary. A universal good.
I can’t impress upon myself enough that time is the most important thing we have. It’s finite, we don’t know how much we have, and when it’s out there’s nothing else. That’s all we’ve got here. Using it to its fullest is all we can hope to do. Am I bothered that there’s no way I’ll complete my short story submission this month? Sure, but setbacks happen all the time. Better to accept it and move on to the next task than dwell and get stuck in the mud.
So, if next week’s article seems like I’m frazzled and snippy, or just really short, sorry in advance. This week is going to be a bear. But, one way or another, it’ll be done. There’s no stopping that. There’s only doing what I can.
I hope it treats the rest of you well. Until next week, Dwellers.
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I’ve been looking for pieces of this thing for months without success. Finally, in a fit of pique, I knocked on my daughter’s door to see if she might have any Legos hidden away in there that weren’t part of the sets she’s got built on shelves. She brings me to a box and pulls out five full, gallon-sized Ziplocks. Nailed it. Can’t wait to get to sorting the rest of this, but it had what I needed to polish this one off. Great success.
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