about time
I’ve been thinking a lot about time. And by the looks of the first tenet I wrote about in this post from last year, it seems that I do that a lot.
Have you noticed that colloquially we say, “spending time” but, at least for me, it can sometimes feel like it doesn't have the same gravity or permanence as “spending money.” I suppose it’s because we have banking and investment accounts where we keep track of our monetary assets and can debit dollars, but we don’t have an equivalent banking mechanism where we account for time?
What I’ve been thinking about is how the decisions that we make on any given day affect how we spend our hours, which is what makes up our days, our weeks, our months, and our years– which is what makes up our lives. Think about it. We have 24 hours in a day. I don’t know about you, but I must have 8 hours of sleep. That leaves 16 hours. Let’s allot 8 hours for work, which is conservative if you also need to factor in commute time, work events and/or travel, or frankly longer work days. That leaves 8 hours. And within those 8 hours, I’m meant to keep up with friends and family, work out, read enough books to hit my Goodreads challenge, cook delicious yet healthy meals, and maybe catch up on the latest episode of Abbott Elementary?
C and I have been talking about how to carve out time to ensure that we are spending time doing what is important to us. We’ve come to the conclusion that unless there is a goal that is measurable, even when it comes to hobbies, chances are it likely won’t happen. I hate to say it but this is where borrowing some of the tactics from our 9-5, can actually help improve our 5-9. For example, I read more books when I’m keeping track of my book count throughout the year as part of my Goodreads challenge. C runs more diligently and trains more intentionally when he’s training for a half marathon. I know it can sometimes feel like it takes the “fun” out of what was meant to be leisurely in the first place, but it really does work. And in the end, you’ll end up spending more time doing the thing you love-a win win.
So, we are piloting a new series in our household, where we dictate certain days of the week for certain activities. Mondays will be for creating- in any form. C thinks we should call them “Monday Musings.” We trade a longer workout and cooking dinner for time to create–in any form. We tried it last week. I worked on making a collage, C worked on a painting. And you know what, it really fueled me. So much so, that I was sad that the next day wouldn’t be Monday Musings. What I learned was that what was in between myself and this moment was just setting aside time to do it and making a conscious tradeoff to get there. I know that may not sound groundbreaking, but it surely felt like it.
So, are there hobbies or activities that you would like to do, but each week it just feels like you don’t have enough time to get to them? How can you prioritize them? Even if it's just an exercise you try for a week or two. I’d love to hear what you try or do differently, and what you learn. As for me, I'm on the hunt for some archive fashion magazines to complete that collage for the next edition of Monday Musings!
Dress: Milly (via Rent the Runway)//Shoes: Report
Photos by: Aurola Wedman Alfaro and William Víquez Mora
