We live in a world where everything happens at a tremendous pace. Diaries are fully booked with appointments, meetings and deadlines. We rush from home to the office and back again. Our lives depend on our smartphones. It reminds us where we have to be when, who we have to call and why.
We plan ahead for holidays, business trips and the children’s school activities. We are organised, on schedule and online all the time. Technology helps to make everything, from our businesses to our personal lives, run like a well-oiled machine. Of course, we know that me-time is important and it’s therefore scheduled, along with quality time with our life partners and children. This is all good and well, but what if life
was supposed to be more than just a list of things to do? What if life was really a journey and not a marathon?
Do we have it all wrong?
The other day a friend of mine took time off to visit an elderly aunt on her birthday. Imagine that. Taking time off in die middle of the week to take her parents for a visit for a birthday. Most employers will frown at this. Most people will not be able to schedule such a visit in their already full diaries.
On the other hand, some of them might have managed the trip if it was for a funeral. Really? When has it become more important to attend somebody’s funeral, than to visit a living person?
All the technology in the world cannot replace the importance of human contact in your life. Make time in that busy schedule of yours for family and friends. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
What is most important to you?
The other day I read online: “Your position would probably be advertised online before your obituary is written.” While work is important and if you are lucky enough to follow your dreams, it can be enjoyable too, it is of the utmost importance that it doesn’t consume all your time and energy.
Take a few minutes and just think about your schedule for the next couple of months. Do you have enough time to just relax? Will you have time to visit a friend? When was the last time you went to visit your mother, granddad or favourite aunt? While you might think at this point in your life that you really don’t have the time or the patience to be bothered with family, just reflect for a moment on your childhood. Who were the “grownups” that were there for you? With whom did you spend the best times? Where are those people now? Most important of all, what stories would you like to remember and tell when you are 80? The one about how you spend all your time working, scheduling and re-scheduling or the one about that camping trip with all your family members when lots of things went haywire but you had the time of your life?
Life goes by so quickly and in the end, we only have memories. Make sure that you build good memories with your family, friends and children. Twenty years from now you are not even going to remember what today’s meeting was all about, but you will never forget the look on your aunt’s face when you showed up on her doorstep in the middle of the week to wish her happy 80th birthday.
