by Suzanne Reisler Litwin
I have a bunch of questions to ask, because don’t know how it’s all happening so fast.
Life! I was just preparing my December holiday gifts. Now I am preparing summer plans. How is it that all my spring blossoms have come and gone? The lilacs and azaleas were just in bloom! The summer’s heat and humidity is settling in, but the snow was just here? Am I supposed to put my winter boots away now? I just wore them… What’s going on? I’m confused…I think?
My neighbor was recently walking her dog. I asked her how her baby was doing. She told me her baby is 3 years old now and talking up a storm. What? She was just pregnant last year! Where did those two other years go? What’s happening? Am I on the speed-dial of life now? Is everyone experiencing the same turbo charged passage of time or is it just me?
STOP!!! Put on the Brakes! I’ve got to do something to slow this down and fast! I’ve got to get a handle of this or I’m going to run out of time. I’m realizing that time is very precious and why did it take me so long to figure this out? Why?
Every year I raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I have been doing this for over 30 years. I am now over 50. My goal is to help find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. I really want this to happen in my lifetime. I used to think this was a great possibility as I was always young. Now, I’m not so sure this will happen. I’m working towards this goal, but now I feel like I’m in a rush! I keep reading reports that a cure is so close to being a reality. I need this reality to happen in my life time – so hurry it up! I understand this is not about me personally, it’s just a goal I set for myself and now I want to complete it. I need a turbo-charged cure please!
Sometimes I will see a TV show from years past. I enjoy watching the show until someone tells me that it aired 40 years ago! What? Then I’m told that most of the cast members have passed away. Oh, no…when did this happen? How can this be?
This gets me thinking about hanging onto the time we have and trying to slow it down a bit. How we do this is the big question? How do we slow down time and make it work for us?
Perspective, my dear Watson!
Here are some thoughts about living life with a clearer perspective on time:
Live for this day and live it to the fullest. Make a difference from one day to the next. Plan a project and realize its completion. Really think about what you are doing while doing it. Embrace the time you spend with others. Extract great meaning from what you do and then time will be generous to you. Share with others the knowledge you have acquired from your time spent. Holding a beloved one is time being spent in love. Realize that time is now and here and you are a part of it.
Plan, my dear Watson!
Make plans to do something that you have never done. Do it! If you plan to do something way in advance, you will have so much to look forward to. You might want time to pass quickly, but you really don’t want that. Plan to see a show in the future. Plan a dinner date with friends you haven’t seen in a while. Plan a trip to a place in the world you haven’t been to. Plan a dinner party. Plan something and do it! Don’t wait.
Record, my dear Watson!
Write down your experiences in a journal. When you record your adventures you will never forget them. Actually, when you re-read your journal entries it will feel like you were just living through the experience again. I know this is true as I have been writing in a journal since I was 14. Whenever I go back to a journal entry, it feels like I am living that day again.
Life is fleeting
Time is flying
And it’s so surprising
Let’s get a hold on it!
Suzanne Reisler Litwin is an author/writer/columnist/educator. She contributes every Monday morning to the West Island Blog’s Keeping it Real Column.
She is an instructor at Concordia University in The Centre for Continuing Education. Suzanne is a freelance contributor to The Suburban newspaper. She is the author of the children’s book, The Black Velvet Jacket. She lives in Montreal, Canada with her 3 children, Allyn, Taylor, and Duke and her husband Laurie. Suzanne contributes regularly to West Island Blog under her column Keeping it Real. Please visit her website www.suzannereislerlitwin.com to read more of her published articles, books, and poetry.
