You can save money. You can save vacation days. You can save resources. But the one thing you cannot save is time.
And yet, we live as if we can.
We assume there will always be more of it.
My Grandpa Art used to answer the annual question, “What do you want for Christmas?” with a single word: “Time.”
He was right. Our most precious commodity isn’t money, possessions, or even a career. It’s time.
Howard died in 2021. He was 59. We had loosely mapped out retirement together, but he never made it there. And so here I am, semi-retired, taking the trips, doing the things, downsizing, creating a fresh home…living a life we once planned side by side.
What brings me comfort is this: in the last few years of his life, Howard embraced an attitude of “yes.” He said “yes” to almost everything. We traveled with family. We spoiled our high-school-aged kids. We spent real, intentional time together as a couple. It was joyful. It was full.
And in hindsight, it was priceless.
Those moments, those shared experiences and connections, are now treasures I carry with me. I am so grateful he got to live them and we shared them as a family.
We should never wait until retirement to start living. Some people never get there.
The cost of assuming we’ll always have more time is that we spend our precious minutes on this planet caught up in things we don’t enjoy and things that don’t truly matter, all while waiting for a better moment or saving for another day…one that may never come.
Time keeps moving, whether we accept it or not, and none of us knows how much remains.
So don’t waste today. Or this hour. Or even this minute.
Carpe diem. Seize the day.
Time is only on our side when we choose to use it wisely.