You're Never Going to Be Younger Than You Are Today!

The sands of time!

Are you putting off doing something? As is the case with most humans, we think we can put off to tomorrow something we do not want to do today. This is our nature; we think we have control over our lives and the time we live and work in, but that is an illusion. We are all getting older as every second, minute, and hour clicks away – we are in an aging process. The truth is this: you're never going to be younger than you are today!

Our obsession with time comes in many forms. The guy waiting on a subway platform looking at his watch and yet glancing at the clock above his head. Is he confirming that his watch is right? Is he late for work? 20 years from now – hell, even a year from now – it won't matter at all. 

We live in an age defined by time. The saying is "Time well spent." But what exactly is that? Reading a good book? Spending time with loved ones? Mowing the lawn? Taking a jog along the water at sunset? Getting your work done for tomorrow's nine o'clock meeting? It is a very subjective thing. My time well spent is nothing compared to your time well spent.

We are very obsessed with time but, like the weather, there is nothing much we can do about it. The hours, minutes, and seconds keep clicking away, and we are neither the masters of time or the keepers of it. I remember my mom, who was as loving a person as there ever was, looking at her watch and saying, "I don't know where the day went" when I came home from school. It wasn't angry or mean – she was noting that her day in which she had expected to do so much had gotten away from her.

In the bigger picture we hear people gripe about Daylight Saving Time. I've been hearing this complaining since I was a little kid. I remember going around the house and changing the time on all the clocks with my dad, who was grumbling about the time change. In the kitchen he would lift me up, and I would change the clock – the one that mattered most in a sense because everything depended on that clock. We looked at it when we had to get out the door to go to school, my dad had to get to work, and mom's day that was already getting away from her had started. 

Now, we have two clocks in the house that have to be changed – the trusty kitchen clock and the chiming clock on the mantel. This clock is more difficult if you are turning back the hour because the hands can only go forward. In the spring it is easier to just add an hour. Still, when I think of how my dad and I had to go to every room to change the clocks when I was little to now only having two clocks in the whole house, I wonder if we are less obsessed with time or more dependent upon our devices to keep us in check.

U.S.A. Time Zones

Of course, then there are time zones. I remember an episode from M*A*S*H when Henry Blake (MacLean Stevenson) wanted to call home to his wife from Korea, and he asked Rader (Gary Burghoff) what time it was in Illinois. Radar figured it out and told him, and Blake said, "Why can't all time be the same?" It's funny because I often thought that when I was a kid, but Radar explains to Blake that the world is round. Ah, reality always gets in the way..

So, to get back to the point of this whole article – you are never going to be younger than you are today! That's right and true whether you're six or sixty. Tomorrow you will be a day older, as you will be the next day, and the next day, until the end of your life. It is a salient truth that I think we sometimes ignore. 

The point is this – do not put off today what can be done tomorrow because tomorrow may never come. I hate to sound morbid, but there are no guarantees about anything. So, if you wanted to tell someone that you love them, I'd say get right to it. If you want to speak to someone you haven't seen in a long time, go over to their house and knock on the door. Or, if you are unable to do that, call them or even text them. They or you may not be here tomorrow. 

The sun sets on another day. 

If you wanted to fix something – the fence in the yard or the cabinet door in the kitchen –get to it! If you feel like taking a walk on the beach, get in the car and go. If you still have your parents, go over to their house and hug them both. I wish I could do that now.

Time is the greatest currency we have – it's better than gold, silver, and cash. Time is the most precious commodity, but we waste it like we had all the time in the world. Guess what? We do not. So, get out there and get moving. The clock is ticking!

*Please watch the video for Jim Croce's song "Time in a Bottle" and think about how he died in a plane crash, leaving behind his wife and little baby. Get ready to shed a tear or two.