Today I heard something sad, while eating at the restaurant I heard someone say “it passes the time” to someone else.
It seems like an harmless comment but it made me think a little. Because “making the time pass”, means that you’re looking for ways of “wasting” it. Like if you were saying “I have too much of it so I need to find ways of making it disappear”. Let’s take another example so you know where I’m going with this: some people just make too much money, so they are trying to fill a void by buying a bigger house, a better car, a bigger boat, new clothes, etc. In short, they are wasting their money because they have so much of it that they don’t care anymore.
So when someone feels that he/she has too much time, he/she has the same kind of behaviour. Finding meaningless ways of using the excess. And while it’s not much of a problem with money because it’s just about material things, wasting your time has a lot more consequences in my opinion.
And why is it worse to waste time? When you’ll get near the end of your money, you’ll be aware of it, and you’ll be able to take measures to avoid hitting the bottom of the tank. So you’ll either stop wasting it, make better investments or sell some stuff. But it’s not possible to earn more time nor can you get some of it back either, what is gone is gone forever. And this is the reason why “passing the time” is sad.
Personally, I can’t even understand how someone can have too much time, because I’m always doing something, so I’m rarely bored. I always keep my mind filled with ideas and projects, and I spend my time working on them. So I don’t consider my time wasted because what I do with it is fulfilling me in some way or another. And I also feel like every day is too short. But when you can genuinely say that you “pass the time”, it means that you’re not fulfilling yourself with activities, hobbies or any other tasks. And this is where it gets sad, because it means that you’re just waiting to die. You’re not investing that time in something or someone, you’re just letting it disappear before you eyes. You’re not making the world better or worst, you’re just being an observer.
I’ve been an observer in our world for many years, I’ve wasted a lot of time and today I regret it. And I don’t see why anyone else wouldn’t regret it either, I don’t think anybody likes to waste things, so why would we do it with one of our most precious resource, time itself?
Don’t take this article the wrong way by thinking that all your time must be filled with work. I’m not saying that we should all stop playing video games, watching TV and browsing social media, but the thing is to not go overboard with it and use your free time in a way that you won’t regret once you’re old.
If you already know what you passions are, devote more time to them. If you don’t know yet what is meaningful to you, open your mind, try new things and get out of your confort zone, so you have the chance of finding what you love.