Humans have an innate disposition to be in control all the time. We come up with these ideas or delusions to try to gain some semblance of control. There is a quote from “Stuck in Love” that is always in the back of my mind when I think about life. In so many words, it says that money, power, nuclear families and religion are all socially accepted concepts that make life seem a little easier to manage. I think the the biggest illusion that we humans have created is time. Time is the invisible dictator that rules every person in all aspects of their lives. And we accept that. I think we have been under the scrutiny of time for so long that we have mistaken it for a concrete idea instead of an abstract one.
People are always worrying about how much time they have left. Some people are mostly worried about how much time they have left until their meeting is over and they get to go home to make dinner for their kids. But when we have a minute to ourselves not thinking about when we have to go to class the next morning, we are always thinking about the grand scheme of things. How much time do I have left? How much time do I have until that car hits mine or until that disease stops my heart? We are constantly anxious that we will not have enough time to do everything we want to do in this life.
But this is life. All the concepts that society has placed upon us to try and create structure aren’t real. Especially time. There is some level of conformity that you have to maintain because that is the world we live in. But in the grand scheme of time there is no such thing as “too late”. It is never too late to start that writing that book. It is never too late to learn how to play an instrument or learn how to speak a different language. You can be 100 years old and hop on a plane to Giza to see the Pyramids if that is something that you have always wanted to do. The only thing that is stopping you is yourself, not time. The beautiful part about life is that it is always changing and growing, and we are always learning and experiencing. There is no limit to what we can achieve in the time that we are alive. Do everything that you have the means to do, no matter how extravagant or simple it is. I don’t know about you, but I would like to say, “I’ve been there,” instead of saying, “I wish I had gone.”
Don’t think about life as a clock. Your life is not measured in minutes or seconds. There is no distant ticking sound that reminds you that you have a limit. Time can’t stop you. It is an abstract concept with no tangible limbs that can grab you and physically hold you back from doing anything. Forget about the concept of time for a second and think about all the places you can see and all the things you can learn. Because here’s the thing about time, you don’t have to be afraid of running out.
