What time is it?

Octavia Tsibes
Time is the indefinite. It is the continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession - from the past, through the present, to the future.

According to Albert Einstein, "the dividing line between past, present, and future is an illusion".

Thus, reality is ultimately TIMELESS. Trying to wrap my head around this will take forever, and as they say, time is precious. The truth about life is that time flies by and you’ll never be able to do what you plan to. This is because there simply is no time. We work on too many things, we think about too many things, and most of all, we expect too many things. A day has 24 hours. In those 24 hours we’re trying to fit in an entire lifetime - never mind the horrible traffic jams that steal all our minutes. We spend too much time procrastinating. I must admit, I too find myself guilty of not doing things when I should be. It’s hard. You first have to prioritise the important stuff, then you’re stuck with an hour to do something that makes you relax and feel happy, just to have some horrible person ruin it. Before you know it, you’re back to square one: Stressing about stuff and once again losing time.

I have wondered about time travel for a long time. Is it real? Is not real? I’ve got to know. Wouldn’t it be great to turn back the hands of time and enjoy things that there was no time for in the past? Or stop yourself from getting hurt or hurting others? I long for the days when all I had was time. I didn’t know what to do with it. I spent it in the most amazing ways: Lying around, sitting around, walking around, etc. You get it right? I didn’t do a single thing and it was great, until I got bored and just lied down, sat and walked around all over again. You can see how that can be classified as a meaningless existence; not being appreciated and not getting praised for doing well. We all need that type of reassurance once in a while.

The key to any good life is TIME MANAGEMENT and not a time machine. The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you’re the pilot. Try telling that to a bunch of teenagers staring at their phones and promising to study a little bit later. “Don’t worry mom, I’ll do it later. There is so much time before the exams,” they say, until the exams come knocking at their door and they know nothing.

Dividing up those precious 24 hours is the key to living optimally. Time management is life management. Set time aside for everything, including planning your time. Plan in the finest possible detail and life will start falling into place. What happens when you can’t stick to the plan? Nothing! Just relax, because nobody is perfect and you’re bound to mess up. For me, time used to be such a stretched out thing in high school. It could not pass soon enough, and my patience was running out. Now I realise that time and regret really don’t like each other. They’ll always find a way to slip past each other. Oh, how I long to go back to school and spend hours complaining about the heavy workload and strict teachers. Unfortunately that’s not how life works and we’ll have to live with all the memories of things we could’ve and shouldn’t have done. Make the best of the minutes you have right now. Read that novel you’ve always wanted to, but do it now. Tell your crush that you’re into him or her, and most of all, study now. It is no use procrastinating, because you’re only disadvantaging yourself. Instagram and YouTube won’t be sad when you fail and the television will not be your boyfriend. Just do it, make it happen and be sure to check the clock, because it might be time to make a change.

Lastly, I would just like to add that the time is running out for us all. Whether you’re an atheist who believes in aliens coming to destroy the earth or a Christian awaiting judgement day. You will have to start living right and make the necessary changes to your life. We have to realise that we need to make the best of the fleeting few minutes we have left and not live doing something that we know is not right. As a wise man once said, “time is what we want most, but what we use worst”. Time slips away like grains of sand, never to return again.