Making the Most of Every Moment

Droplets of Time

In a week where I’ve been forced to slow down again, I’ve had time to sit and consider why I get so busy and what a waste of time it can be.

Many years ago, after the death of my Dad and the birth of my children, I decided not to waste a moment of my life.  I set about filling the lives of our family of four with activity, creating family memories with only rare moments of rest or peace.  I really was on a weekly treadmill of doing, ticking off all of the things I thought we needed to experience.

A quick edit, skimming a good few years of pain and chaos,  and I’m rethinking what ‘not wasting a moment’ really means. Now it means that sometimes I need to be alone.  Sometimes I need to be with friends and family.  Sometimes I love London and sometimes I love a walk in the woods.  It means that sometimes I just need to stop, lie down and listen to something calming and sometimes I need to turn the volume up, turn the rhythm up and dance around the kitchen.   (The dog is not overly keen on this option.)

Sometimes I need to create something beautiful to share it with others and sometimes I just need to create something; to express myself in a messy, private, this-is-who-I-am-today way.

This is what I have discovered: ‘not wasting a moment’ cannot mean always doing stuff.  If we keep just doing stuff, we never have those moments of thankfulness; of stopping and realising who we are and considering where we’re going next.

Not wasting a moment means sometimes stopping to breathe and to be; to realise the droplets of time that we are given are packed full of promise and beautiful purpose.