What does Time Mean to You?

ByMila Hours
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Ask yourself right now, What is time?

Maybe you answered seconds, hours, days, maybe years. We all understand the construct of time; how we decided to plan out our existence.

Here’s the dictionary definition:

the part of existence that is measured in minutes, days, years, etc

cambridge dictionary

But do we view time with the importance it deserves, do we plan our days, months, years with the knowledge that time is life. 


Time feels more complex the more you really start to think about it. Do you view time as what we created it to be, 24 hour days, 7 day weeks, 12 month years? Or in the way we age, in the way we live our everyday lives with the inevitable concept of time.

In the way that time will always continue. 

The Diary Entries

The first time I thought deeper on the concept of time was when I was 18.

It made me realize that when we understand how fleeting everything truly is, it can transform our lives.

So I wrote it in my diary, the first entry.

And two years later I had to resurface the concept of time, the second entry.

First Entry:

December 24, 2023

…when I look at my family, when I look at my parents I can’t stop to think about time. How time will never pause for anyone or anything. It will only keep going and keep each person aging before their eyes. But the part that I can’t wrap my head around is the fact that it’s happening right before my eyes. My own eyes. And it will only keep going. Understanding the timeline of life, the timeline that is inevitable, inescapable. It’s hard to accept this. To accept the fact that one day I will personally live through it even more. Wrapped into the concept of time.  But the key to it all is not to run away from it but to embrace each beautiful moment we live through. Whether that’s my parents getting older, whether that’s entering a new stage in life. To enjoy it all. To soak it in and be present.  To never look back and wish I could have enjoyed it more.  Grateful for now and grateful for what is to come.

Second Entry:

February 5, 2025

“… notions of days, months, and years are themselves inventions  of the very concept of time.(Clark, 2003)” Concept of time is interesting to think about. When you look past the everyday routine and truly think about the invention of the concept of time, you are able to understand that it shouldn’t be something to detain you from living every moment with intent and gratitude.  There is no reason to view time as prison and us as the prisoners. Understanding time can help us live our lives with real intent. Real intent to change the world we live in. To live out our purpose with meaning. 

Reflection

I think about time a lot, about the way it is spent. How I personally spend it in my life and how I see others spending it in theirs.

Social media, work culture, living for the weekend, the normal societal way of living. Spending the majority of our lives like this is all wrong .

It neglects time completely and makes us think we are imperishable, that we are infinite. We live on the concept of time we created and align our lives to accommodate it, but what do we lose in return?

  1. Forgetting what is right in front of us
  2. Choosing to achieve work goals over love
  3. Spending more time on the media than with the people we love
  4. Choosing materialistic things over creating experiences
  5. Living to work instead of living to be, to love.

Time is tied with the way we chose to live. If we acknowledge how much of a blessing time is, we live the way we are intended to. 

I know it feels odd to think about so much, but what if it’s actually not odd at all?

2 Comments

  1. So true—profound, wise, and full of love. Thank you for sharing this beautiful reminder of how precious our time is. Every second truly matters.

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