Jenn's Passage

Time is such a quirky thing. It passes us day by day, tick by tick, without us even realizing it. Majority of the time, I catch myself bargaining with a higher being to make that tick go just a little bit quicker. “I wish it was five o’clock, so I could be off work.. I wish it was Friday, I need another weekend STAT!” These are things I find myself reciting on repeat every week. Don’t get me wrong, I love being immersed in a clinical setting and feeling like I am making a difference in patients’ lives. I, like many other working souls, desire some extra free time every once in a while… Okay, maybe more than every once in a while. When I realize that I am wishing for time to move just a tad bit faster, I feel a pang of guilt and shame. Why would I wish for my finite, precious moments of life to whizz by quicker than they already do? This is the ultimate question that led to my writing this week.

I am taking this question as a challenge, a challenge to value all moments of life. Not just the invigorating weekend adventures or lazy, coffee shop reading days. But also the hours between 8 and 5, when I have the glorious opportunity to make an impact on people’s lives, to be the one person who just listens, to be the person who can potentially alleviate their pains and worries, to be the person who puts the smiles back on their faces.

Of course with the pondering about time, I have stumbled across hundreds of memories of my own passage of time. If you didn’t know, the name of my blog has a dorky double meaning. A: Jenn’s passage, meaning a passage of time and B: Jenn’s passage, as in a passage of writing. Yes I know, it’s quite a pathetic attempt at a double entendre. My friend, Amy, would have devised a much wittier version, I’m sure. Back to my pondering… I find myself desperately seeking for more time, as if it’s hidden behind doors. As if there is some algorithm or formula to uncover more of it. I particular resonate with some of these quotes depicting time:

Time is what we want most, but we use worst. -William Penn

How many times have I found myself wasting thirty minutes checking Facebook feeds, as if knowing the minute details of people’s lives is really useful? I am hereby, at this very moment of obnoxious typing, vowing to limit my Facebook time to five minutes every other day. Can I do it? Only time will tell.

You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. -Charles Buxton

This is a great daily reminder type of quote. If something is important to you, whether it be more time spent with your dog, knitting, throwing paint on canvas or running, you must make it a priority. Time will not just open up its doors and say, “here you go! Here is an extra thirty minutes to your day, just for you and your yarn!” If you value it, you must revere it. And to revere it, you must rearrange your precious minutes to allow for it to bloom.

Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can’t buy more hours. Scientists can’t invent new minutes. And you can’t save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow. -Denis Waitley

I love how this quote screams hope. Not only does it lay it out frank for you, (we all have a level playing field) but it reassures us that regardless of our pasts, we can make a change for the better. We can choose how we are going to pursue our tomorrows. If we take an active stance on life, we can shape our time how we see fit.

I love C.S. Lewis and I find myself entranced not only by his wonderful stories, but also his memorable quotes.

Another quirky characteristic of time: It seems to pass slowly every day, yet looking back it all seems like a whirlwind. I find myself in shock and disbelief when I realize that I have been out of college for three years already. Where did the time go??? Like the Chantal Kreviazuk song, “Time, where did you go? Why did you leave me here alone?”

Hope my ramblings inspired a few moments of evaluating life. -Jenn