It's about time

© Can Stock Photo / Violka08

HURRY UP  PLEASE ITS TIME (The Wasteland, T. S. Eliot).

It's the time of year when you can feel the clock ticking right down to the bone. The end of the year. A time for preparations (for the holidays, for the new year) and accounting (for whatever needs to be done before the year ends). A time for hurrying.

I am feeling the pressure more than I usually do, because my work schedule is unusual this year and I won't get the time for reflection and connection that I value in December. If I am to reflect and connect, I will have to do it on purpose, with plans and perhaps with less sleep than I would like. Hurry up, please.

By the time we realize that things are changing, they are often changed. Relationships, habits, and situations are always shifting, and often they do it just outside of awareness. As the year ends, we look around  and do the math. When was the last time you saw that friend? How does your progress compare to people who aren't around you now? Are you getting there fast enough?

Whether or not you liked 2017, it's almost time to let it go. It's not an option: you have to keep moving forward in time. You might as well keep moving forward in life.  People you care about will change or move. Your work will develop or not. You might get smarter, or at least build a little more awareness of who you want to be. The past goes by fast and the future is already calling.

Take a moment and live in that moment.  Take stock as if you have just landed and everything is fresh and new. Build on what is real and present. It's the only solid ground.

And it's the only time you need.

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