I have recently been noticing that time is the true enemy of humanity and most don’t stop to recognize this fact. What truly contributes though to time being our enemy and not an ally? This is what we will examine here today…
I believe that conformity and mindless repetition taught at an early age are what “plagues” the human condition. Once out of our formative schooling years, we are taught to live by a certain set of “societal rules” or “status quo.” It is the beginning of these “shame” tactics that set the course of not only “mediocrity” for most but also the wasting of one’s time consisting of only “work” and no “play.” Is this what being an adult must look like? Is it the lack of “child-like” curiosity that also is lost on the road to being an adult? I argue yes, it is.
I put together the following average timeline of age groups and activities. Let’s look at this.
Age Range and primary activity or experience Forecast!
0-18 state-sponsored school years “rote” learning & conformity (cloudy with light showers)
19-23 college years/highly active socially and active going out (sunny with no wind)
24-27 seeking career/median to high activity of going out/experiences (sunny with light wind)
28-50 mostly working and going into severe debt with little time to self (thundershowers likely)
51-68 more work and almost nil activity other than the week vacation? (heavy rain all day)
69-86 waiting to die with little activity due to deteriorating health, mostly Dr. appointments, dreading running errands, a prisoner inside your own dwelling (hurricane imminent)
We can see from the above numbers that the forecast can be grim, but it doesn’t have to be! I argue for the child-like curiosity that is buried deep down to come out and play again. It is this curiosity and sense of adventure or even danger that will really create memorable experiences. I mean how many workdays are remembered at the end of anyone’s lives anyway. Sure, that great co-worker or “patron” could be somewhat remembered but I’ll bet that you can almost remember every detail of certain outside-of-work events especially experiences of the unknown! As soon as that one song starts to play you can go right back to that place and time, can’t you?
This average mundane repetitious “groundhog-day” like existence can be overwhelming and utterly “suffocating” to one that has any type of self-reflection. It is this state of mind that can lead to an endless cycle of “mental illness” where psyche drugs are merely a “band-aid” instead of the real cure for what ails you.
As adults, we don’t have to keep pursuing endless amounts of empty time-consuming “entertainment” just to feel alive. Live minimally, desire less, while having more time and money to enjoy life. We can tap into that child-like sense of wonder and live to adventure into places we haven’t gone before while experiencing things we will never forget. I leave you with this epic quote today.
“Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings.” – Heraclitus
Was he really wasting time or were others? A paradoxical song for sure.