I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately. Specifically, why it passes so fast.

I’m not talking about the days and nights, because the Lord knows those pass slow as heck sometimes.

But I’m talking about the years.

Our babies just growing before our eyes. Our parents aging before them, too.

And then there’s us, the parents and caretakers—the adults—feeling like it was only yesterday that we were reckless and 18 and now we have an entire world of responsibility.

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid I didn’t wish time away.

I didn’t constantly count down the hours until the end of the day or crave Fridays.

I didn’t look at life as putting in time.

Putting in time for a promotion.

Putting in time towards retirement.

Putting in the “when this is over life will be easier” kind of time.

We didn’t wish that time and phases and seasons would end quickly so we could move on to the better of what’s promised to come.

We didn’t wish time away.

When I was a child, time was slow and savored. Time was just there, running in the background. It wasn’t something at the forefront of my mind.

But since the age of 13 when I began to crave that driver’s license, 16 when I began to crave freedom, 18 when I began to crave independence, 24 when I began to crave stability, and the years beyond, I’ve been wishing to be further ahead in time.

Maybe that’s why time seems to move so fast. Maybe our dreams and goals to be bigger, better, faster, stronger remove us from the present and push us full steam ahead into our future.

Maybe if we began to look forward to today rather than Friday. 

Maybe if we knew how fast the time would actually go.

Maybe if we only knew how much we would grow to appreciate the time we were wishing away.

Maybe then we’d slow down in time.

I hate to be the one to say stop and smell the roses but maybe this is the year to stop and smell the roses.

Maybe this is the year to embrace the present.

Because time is what we make of it. Time is what we’re given. And instead of wishing to be there rather than here, I’m going to make a conscious effort to embrace the time I’m in now. Because time is never guaranteed.

Time will continue to move fast if we continue to wish it away.

You’re where you once wished you would be, in this little of pocket of time.

Hold onto it.

This article originally appeared on Grown Up Glamour by Anneliese Lawton

 

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