(Read the post online for better viewing & lots of resources)
TIME.
Looking at it from another perspective, it's my greatest friend. I can't get enough of it. No matter what anyone says to the contrary I know that time is speeding up. We're running out of it. What makes it my enemy is that it's so elusive. You can't hold on to it.
(Don't waste your time reading this unless you want to know more about me personally!)
It's always been that way. I am very jealous of my time. I don't want to waste one second of it. I try to get my husband to understand this is why I don't like to go with him on his errands - I don't like milling around aimlessly in a hardware store, for instance. When circumstances force it on me, I use it to analyze people, to think, to get ideas. I'm a people watcher. Give me five minutes with a person and I can tell you their strengths, their weaknesses, whether they can be trusted, etc. I came with built-in radar, you might say.
Oddly, I'm not a party person. I say 'oddly,' because when I was younger I was the 'life of the party.' Like the hardware store, if I'm stuck at a party-type event, I watch. And think. I wish I had a dollar for every amazing phrase, ditty, etc. that comes to me which I'm sure will be there when I get home. It never is.
And yet I absolutely adore people. But not groups. I want to sit down with one person and hear everything about him or her. People are endlessly fascinating. Although I can be quite a talker, I love to listen, so it's easy to get people talking about themselves. More often than not they eventually get to some dilemma or problem they are having, and that's my very favorite thing. I've invariably been through some version of the same problem and came out on the other side. I'm convinced that's why the Lord has let me (all of us) go through so many things, to get through them, learn, and help others do the same.
While I am 'killing' time watching people I have the most hilarious things come into my head, things I could never actually say, which is a shame because they are so amusing. I see humor in almost everything. We are funny critters. Sometimes when I'm by myself I do amusing things and get quite a kick out of it. That could make me a candidate for the loony bin ... where I would have the advantage of plenty of time. That's another life lesson: you can find something positive about every situation.
Prioritizing is essential in my world. Otherwise I'd never accomplish anything. There are enough things to do to fill a thousand lifetimes, and one of my greatest frustrations is not being able to do them. That's one reason there must be eternal life. Then there will be time. I'm always running from one task to another. If I could ever concentrate solely on one project I know I would be a genius at it. My husband is exactly the same. He has a milliion ideas and time to do only a few. But we do different things, so the two of us get twice as much done. If we ever both zero in on one single thing, it's a done deal before it's even started, and it will end up in a way envisioned by neither of us - nor by anyone else.
Getting older is more challenging because time literally does slip away. In fact it zooms away. It's like the loaves and fishes in reverse. You start out with a lot and end up with very little of it.
I don't sleep a lot because it seems like a waste of time. Fortunately, I don't require a lot of sleep. Bedtime can be 9-10 PM, but it's not unusual for me to be up at 2:30 AM or so, and I would do almost anything to avoid wasting time by taking a nap, although sometimes I get s-o-o-o sleepy ... time to do something more physical.
Let's face it. I'm driven. I have one speed - FAST. If someone watched me they might not think so, but I'm going fast inside. In my head. That's Action Central. You can imagine how much I hate waiting, so we won't even go there. Suffice it to say that I have cancelled appoinments based on the amount of time I thought would be spent waiting. Have you ever considered how much time is wasted driving to and from an appointment, plus the waiting done at the appointment?
Another interesting thing (to me) is that I almost always know what time it is, even without a clock. Can't remember the last time I was off more than ten minutes, even if I haven't seen a clock for hours. I think subconscious things like the position of the sun come into play here.
Oops. Gotta run. It's time to go...
TIME.
Looking at it from another perspective, it's my greatest friend. I can't get enough of it. No matter what anyone says to the contrary I know that time is speeding up. We're running out of it. What makes it my enemy is that it's so elusive. You can't hold on to it.
(Don't waste your time reading this unless you want to know more about me personally!)
It's always been that way. I am very jealous of my time. I don't want to waste one second of it. I try to get my husband to understand this is why I don't like to go with him on his errands - I don't like milling around aimlessly in a hardware store, for instance. When circumstances force it on me, I use it to analyze people, to think, to get ideas. I'm a people watcher. Give me five minutes with a person and I can tell you their strengths, their weaknesses, whether they can be trusted, etc. I came with built-in radar, you might say.
Oddly, I'm not a party person. I say 'oddly,' because when I was younger I was the 'life of the party.' Like the hardware store, if I'm stuck at a party-type event, I watch. And think. I wish I had a dollar for every amazing phrase, ditty, etc. that comes to me which I'm sure will be there when I get home. It never is.
And yet I absolutely adore people. But not groups. I want to sit down with one person and hear everything about him or her. People are endlessly fascinating. Although I can be quite a talker, I love to listen, so it's easy to get people talking about themselves. More often than not they eventually get to some dilemma or problem they are having, and that's my very favorite thing. I've invariably been through some version of the same problem and came out on the other side. I'm convinced that's why the Lord has let me (all of us) go through so many things, to get through them, learn, and help others do the same.
While I am 'killing' time watching people I have the most hilarious things come into my head, things I could never actually say, which is a shame because they are so amusing. I see humor in almost everything. We are funny critters. Sometimes when I'm by myself I do amusing things and get quite a kick out of it. That could make me a candidate for the loony bin ... where I would have the advantage of plenty of time. That's another life lesson: you can find something positive about every situation.
Prioritizing is essential in my world. Otherwise I'd never accomplish anything. There are enough things to do to fill a thousand lifetimes, and one of my greatest frustrations is not being able to do them. That's one reason there must be eternal life. Then there will be time. I'm always running from one task to another. If I could ever concentrate solely on one project I know I would be a genius at it. My husband is exactly the same. He has a milliion ideas and time to do only a few. But we do different things, so the two of us get twice as much done. If we ever both zero in on one single thing, it's a done deal before it's even started, and it will end up in a way envisioned by neither of us - nor by anyone else.
Getting older is more challenging because time literally does slip away. In fact it zooms away. It's like the loaves and fishes in reverse. You start out with a lot and end up with very little of it.
I don't sleep a lot because it seems like a waste of time. Fortunately, I don't require a lot of sleep. Bedtime can be 9-10 PM, but it's not unusual for me to be up at 2:30 AM or so, and I would do almost anything to avoid wasting time by taking a nap, although sometimes I get s-o-o-o sleepy ... time to do something more physical.
Let's face it. I'm driven. I have one speed - FAST. If someone watched me they might not think so, but I'm going fast inside. In my head. That's Action Central. You can imagine how much I hate waiting, so we won't even go there. Suffice it to say that I have cancelled appoinments based on the amount of time I thought would be spent waiting. Have you ever considered how much time is wasted driving to and from an appointment, plus the waiting done at the appointment?
Another interesting thing (to me) is that I almost always know what time it is, even without a clock. Can't remember the last time I was off more than ten minutes, even if I haven't seen a clock for hours. I think subconscious things like the position of the sun come into play here.
Oops. Gotta run. It's time to go...