Rarely do millennials ever stop to think about how quickly time passes by. Sure, we may text our friends toward the end of summer complaining about how we can’t believe we’re already two weeks away from school starting again, and occasionally we surprise ourselves by how blinded we are by the passing time. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing; sometimes when you lose track of time, it signifies that you are enjoying where you’re at in your life at that moment. But what about when you lose track of the time your loved one’s have? What happens when you forget about how many more Christmas’s you have with your grandparents, or birthdays you have to celebrate with your parents? Perhaps it’s because thoughts like these scare us. We don’t want to think about the possibility that the people we love the most may not be there someday. So, I ask the question: at what point in our lives do we need to wake up and realize that we don’t have all the time in the world? In fact, perhaps the time we have together is too little?
It wasn’t until a few days ago when I was on a walk with my mom when I realized how fast summer was flying by. I’ve heard countless times that as you get older, time goes by faster, but it didn’t really sink in with me until I muttered, “Ugh, summer is going by way too fast. I’m not ready to go back to school." To which my mom replied, “It really is, isn’t it?” I guess I shouldn’t have been that taken aback by the comment, but then again, it was the first time I had ever heard my mom say that time was moving too quickly. Shortly after the exchange, we got into a conversation about how fast time goes by, and how unfortunate it is that people in their 20’s seem to think we have all the time in the world. The truth is, we don’t. We aren’t invincible, we can’t do anything, and as much as we wish they would be, the people we love will not be around forever, either.
With the Fourth of July coming up, most adults are working hard to have clear schedules to attend the family barbecue and go see the fireworks. However, most high school and college students aren’t so focused on family time during this weekend. We are celebrating America’s independence, and to a bunch of 20-year-old kids, all that means is “drink, drink, drink.” After all, isn’t that the best way to celebrate? Here-in lies the problem. Now I’m not saying that I’m different than every other kid out there and I don’t want to have fun on the fourth of July. Of course I do. Still, there comes a point when reality sets in and you realize you might not have many more of these holidays with the people that travel thousands of miles to spend it with you.
Contrary to what you may be thinking at this point, I am not trying to make you feel guilty for not spending time with your families. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t think you should experience a little bit of discomfort when you think about how little time you spend with them. Still, I am certainly not trying to make it seem like you are a bad person just because you forget that time is always moving forward. At the age we’re at, it’s difficult to focus on the negative. We spend so much of our lives believing that we have all the time in the world. We struggle to comprehend that reality could possibly be different than what we have as the ideal situation in our minds.
So before you enter into this week’s coming holiday, and all the other ones yet to come, ask yourself how important it is to be with your friends at this time. Maybe you don’t need to worry about spending that much time with your relatives because they aren’t coming into town, and if that’s the case then that’s perfectly acceptable. But if they are coming into town this weekend, and you know that they are going to want to spend time with you, think about your schedule beforehand. Plan to go to breakfast with them, or set aside a little bit of time to show them that new guitar your parents bought you. Regardless of how much time they may have left, the unfortunate truth is that time is going to go by way too fast, and it will seem like less time than you will want to have.
Let’s face it millennials, we aren’t invincible, and we can’t control the ticking of the clock, but what we can control is how we use the time we have, which leaves me with one question:
What will you do with it?
