What if I revealed the exact date & time of your death? What if the revelation was a moment not far from now? What if it was less than a year? or a month?
What about your loved ones? What if it was their expiration date rapidly approaching? Think about how differently you would treat each other if you were counting moments & grasping at memories. Would you waste the finite amount of time together or try capture & cherish every second? What about a sleight or hurt (real or imagined)? Would you stay upset or angry for any substantive time period? How about long held or deeply engrained grudges? Would those feel as necessary? What about the people you admire & respect, as well as care about? Would you treat them differently if this was your last week together? Would you move heaven & earth to spend every waking moment creating a menagerie of memories to sustain the coming separation?
My purpose for posing these hypothetical heuristics is a simple yet important one. As I’ve stated (frequently) before, the One & ONLY real currency is TIME.
We trade time for everything else in existence. It stands as the only thing we cannot purchase more of once it’s spent. Every single billionaire on in the world could pool their funds & it still cannot purchase an additional minute with friends on a beach nor a short walk with someone special. All the money in existence cannot even buy one more second of holding the hand of a soulmate just before they slip into death. And that’s the point I mean to bring forth. I’ve met very few people who aren’t willing to give up everything they own for just a little more time with someone they’ve lost. Any and everything of value loses it when held next to Time. We all inherently know this, yet most of us forget to treat others as such in the daily grind. It takes practice (or extreme loss) but if you ever come to value all time in this manner you will become a much more fulfilled and enriched human. In most things I personally am one of the most cynical people I’ve ever met yet I cherish every moment I get with every loved one. Even small experiences are impactful & meaningful. Beware though, if you operate in this frame of mind your experience of time will seem to lengthen. This includes time spent hurting after a heartbreak or loss. Even still, the time enjoyed is so much sweeter.
