“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” ~ Carl Sandburg, upon turning 85
How are you spending your summer?
This summer has impressed on me more than ever the wisdom of Carl Sandburg’s thoughts on time and the importance of owning and spending thoughtfully the time we have.
What matters to you? What choices can you make in the next 24 hours that will affect how you will feel at the end of the day (or the week or the year)? I’m not thinking about productivity or how to cram even more into an already bloated to-do list. What I have in mind is what experiences you want to have, what people you want to be with, what thoughts you want to think, what memories you want to create.
How do other people want you to spend your time? And how is that different from your answers above?
In our social media age, it is tempting to think that we are spending our time wisely only when what we are doing is blog-worthy, tweetable, or validated by a Facebook status. But so much of what really matters is personal rather than public, private rather than published.
We all are given the same coin of time. Yours belongs to no one else, and you need show no receipt for how you spend it.