Time's Upper Hand

All people have 8760 hours per year in a non-leap year. The average person spends about 2000 hours at work (23%). That, of course, does not account for overtime or any work we take home. Most healthy people spend almost 3000 hours per year asleep. So that's another 1/3 of our time used up. Unfortunately, sleep is necessary and we suffer if deprived of it. Most people spend another 5% of time commuting about to work and other places we have to go. That leaves about 40% of our time up for grabs. I would guess that most of us spend more that half of these left over hours leading a civilized life: getting the oil changed, mowing yards, eating, cleaning,  taking showers, and standing in all kinds of lines. It's what we gotta do to continue on in the civilized world. If you have kids you give most of that time to them in an attempt to turn them into productive tax-paying citizens  in the event that you let them live into adulthood.

That leaves us only about 20% of lifetime of hours to really do the things that make life worth it. Since it's not a lot, we have to work hard at spending the 20% really well.

Now the really bad news. Once you spend time, it's gone. Really gone. You can't get it back no matter what you do. So if we decide to spend those few hours that are truly ours to spend sitting on the bench, then what? We don't get time sponsored "do-overs". Once it passed, it's past.

The other unfair thing about time is that nobody gets to know how much they have. We aren't born with an expiration date stamped on our hand. All we know is that everybody gets some. Time always has the upper hand. It keeps us guessing. How would we live if we did have an expiration date? Would our lives change as the expiration date got closer? We are only guaranteed one day at a time. So you if rack up your Super 20% in the bank in hopes of using it for the bucket list, you might get it, but you might not. Time is not FDIC insured.

I don't have a bucket list.  Like many working people, I don't have the money or large chunks of time to do much about what might be on a bucket list. Minding the present and not worrying too much about the future is how I survive the hands of time staring me down. For me, "Seize the Day" seems a more appropriate response to what to do with my Super 20%. I have to think about what I can do today or this week.  What can I learn today?  Who can I appreciate tomorrow? Where will I go and what should I do this week to find some peace to refuel my soul? So many questions, so little time.

Tick..... tick.......tick.

lw

Here's a place that Pi and I go to relax and reflect. Pretty sure he's reflecting
 on \how much trouble he would get into if he chased those ducks.