What’s Your Relationship with Time?

Do you often say, “I don’t have time”? Do you feel like you’ve got too much to do and not enough time for it? What’s your relationship with time?

I recently had an appointment with my optometrist whose office is in an eyeglasses store. I mentioned that I was thinking about getting new glasses. After the appointment, my doctor introduced me to a sales associate to help me look for new glasses. I wasn’t planning on shopping for glasses that day, so I told him that I didn’t have time and left the store. Doesn’t he know how busy I am?

Are we creating our own stress based on our perception of time?

As I was leaving the store, I was surprised at how irritated I was. I felt like my time was being threatened by external demands. I later realized that this was less about my optometrist and more about my relationship with time. It hit me that I was creating stress based on an artificial notion of time.

“Our time and our pace is so central to our very experience of being.” – Dawna Ballard

Society created clocks and calendars to help us coordinate time with our fellow humans. As Dawna Ballard says, they are passive objects. And yet, we can feel stressed just by looking at them. Realizing that we have a choice as to how we perceive time can free us from a time scarcity mindset.

Focus on quality time.

How we choose to spend time can either add stress or value to our lives. We can improve our relationship with time if we spend time with activities and people that really matter to us. Belle B. Cooper’s article asserts that when we get more value out of the time we have, we won’t feel as if there’s not enough of it.

Time doesn’t have to be your enemy – it can be your friend, if you use it wisely. What are you going to make time for today?

Image by Halfpoint (iStock)