:Time:

My name is Sam, and sometimes, I feel like this.

Really, haven't we all? In fact, I'd be willing to venture a guess that most of us feel this way almost all the time. Before you go arguing with me in your head (or out loud--you really, really, should hold off on arguing with me out loud), think about this with me:

Have you ever, after eight hours of sleep, said to someone (or even to yourself) "I'm still exhausted"?

Have you ever double-booked yourself?

Have you ever had to cancel plans?

Have you ever written out a to-do list?

Have you ever completed said to-do list?

Have you ever complained about how busy you are?

Have you ever said the words: "I need a vacation"?

And on and on and on and on... I don't think that any one of those things by themselves necessarily constitutes being pulled in too many directions, but I'm also fairly certain we've all said many of them at the same time.

But this is my (and many other people's) quandary: we just get so darned busy. There are too many good things, too many interesting events or groups or organizations to be a part of, and there's just not enough time in the day (or week...or month) to accomplish it all or be present (really present) for any of it.

I mean, take me, for example (since I'm not doing an exposé on anyone else, here...). I work 50-55 hours a week at one job, and 10-15/week and another, depending on the time of year. I have a wife and two kids, who I try desperately to be involved with, and extended family and friends to try and remain connected to as well. With all this comes a desire to pursue my interests (writing, reading, photography, etc.), as well as supporting my wife and children as they pursue theirs. Add housework, maintenance, and trying to be a nice guy and help out family and friends from time to time, and there are a lot of things placing demands (real and imagined) on my time. 

Now, I'm not saying that I've necessarily got it bad (who am I to say whether or not you've got it worse?), but I will say this:

In high school, I used to think I had no time to do things.

In college, I realized that I wished I had the kind of time I had in high school...and thought that now, I had no time to do things.

Once I got married, I realized that I wished I had the kind of time I had in college, and that my high-school-self's opinion on time was a joke, and thought that now, surely now, I have no time to do things.

And then I had kids. And wouldn't you know it, kids are time vacuums. They suck up every little piece of remaining time, and then go running around the room, waiting for more. I'm pretty sure Dr. Who could put out an episode where children are somehow devouring the space-time continuum, and interrupting the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey-ness of it all, and he has to save humanity from their hungry grasp. And it would probably be legitimately frightening, at least to parents.

So now I realize that, if there is ever a time in your life where you can legitimately think you have no time for things, it's when there are kids in the house.

Except for this: as long as you are still alive, you have time for things. Maybe not the amount of time you want, and maybe not for the exact things, in the exact order, that you want to tackle them... But as long as you are breathing, there is still time to accomplish.

Now, that being said, I would submit that we all still have a LOT to learn when it comes to managing said time, and ensuring we are not allowing ourselves to be pulled too many directions at the same time...

A colleague of mine put it well once: "It's like we're making minimum payments on all our commitments"

That hit me. It was probably the clearest way of putting it that I had ever heard. And it made me realize that I have to find a way to consolidate and strip my schedule down so that I don't simply make minimum payments on my commitments. I need to find ways to be fully present in whatever I am doing, so that the other things aren't bleeding their way into devouring the time I do have for the really important things...things like my family...my wife and kids...

If I'm still breathing, I've still got time. It may not always feel like it, but it's there. Life is a series of moments never lived again. What am I doing with them?

My name is Sam, and sometimes, I feel like this.