I have blogged before about money and about time, but I would like to reiterate that time is the only non-renewable resource that we have. We are each given a finite amount of time to work with in our lives, and there are no do-overs. We can always make more money. Countless people through the ages have made and lost and made fortunes again. Not so with time. Once it slips by us, it is gone forever.
So figuring out how to divvy up our time becomes perhaps one of the least thought about yet most crucial aspects of being human. It is easy, with a little bit of effort, to see where all of our money goes (or has gone). It seems to be a bit trickier with time. I don’t know anyone who keeps a journal of their every waking moment and what they did with it.
What hit me about my decision making was something that I think about a lot, but I never really put it together in my head until I had an epiphany today. During my undergrad years, I was in love with the theater (and I still am). I spent hours working and playing on a stage, in a darkened auditorium, and I loved every minute of it. My plan was to continue in that field. Then I got engaged.
Theater life is hard, and it takes up vast amounts of time. The professionals work eight shows a week, not counting any rehearsals, training, or side jobs they might have. That doesn’t leave much time for anything outside of the theater. My epiphany was that as much as I loved theater, I loved my (future) wife more. I wanted to have time to spend with her and the family that we wanted to create together. I would like to think that I knew, on some intuitive level, that if I pursued theater, I wouldn’t have the time to dedicate to my family. I knew the ephemeral nature of time. The sacrifices I would have had to make to pursue one passion (theater) would have come at the cost of another passion (family). Somehow I knew, all those years ago, that the only decision for me to make was a life with my wife. There isn’t enough time for all of the dreams that I have. There isn’t enough time for any of us to pursue all of the dreams that we have. It’s important to choose wisely.