For most normal jobs, you have to clock in when you get there in order for the time to be accounted for. In order for you to get a paycheck at the end of the pay period, your effort and time clocked is tallied and totaled, and you are paid accordingly. For anything in life, that’s how it works. The hours put in usually more or less equal the payout. It isn’t always monetary, but there is something attained from time invested.

You go to school, and you do your homework, in hopes of getting a decent grade.

You spend time with your loved one to show them you care, in the hopes that they’ll do the same in return, and love you more in the process.

In your hobbies, passions, goals, dreams, and job you spend your time in the hopes of a better pay out. Just the phrase “spend your time” shows that you have to give something of yourself in order for anything to come of your efforts. Nowadays there are so many different ways to spend that precious time we’re all given. The amount of people that complain that there isn’t enough time in the day is astonishing. Time management has become a lost skill and is a disappearing art form. We’re all so desperate to check in to places on social media and post pictures as proof, yet we seem to be terrified to log off and actually check into life, because that would require people to actually hold themselves accountable for their actions. I completely understand wanting to share wonderful moments or hard times with others. But at the end of the day how many likes or hearts you get doesn’t matter nearly as much as being present in the moment. Society has us convinced if we don’t have 1 million followers or hundreds of likes from people we barely know or speak to, then there’s no validity in our actions. At the end of the day, though, that dinner that your boyfriend cooked you, or that amazing concert you and your best friend went to really only matters to you and the people you’re there with. All that time and effort you spent to be there shows what really is important.

There are only 24 hours in a day. We all know that. No matter what you do it will never seem like enough time. But you’re the only person who can actually spend that precious time. Investing that finite time in your dreams and the people in your life will result in that amazing validation of self that society says social media will deliver on, but never actually does.

So maybe as we settle into the New Year, a goal could be to take a deep breath, put down the cell phone, and realize that life is flying by while you spend your time on everything but what actually matters.