According to what we have always known there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 52 weeks in a year, and the beautiful fallacy that there is an infinite amount of years in a lifetime.

I always try to live by the notion that if you believe in forever, life is just a one night stand.

But this idea of forever isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe that painful realisation comes when you witness those who don’t make the most of the time they have with the things that matter.

In reality there is never enough time in the day to do the things you want to achieve, and to do the things you should achieve. You know what I’m talking about too. The time to see your loved ones, time to exercise more, time to finish your assignment before midnight. 9 times out of 10 there is never enough time because we never make enough time. We don’t prioritise because it’s a part of our nature to always believe there will be enough time tomorrow or the next day or the day after that.

Think of your worst nightmare: having a parent die, becoming terminally ill, failing university, losing your best friend. If this happened tomorrow, would you have done anything different?

Relying on a ‘forever’ sometimes means you become blind sighted by the things you take for granted in your day-to-day life. That everything and everyone will always be exactly as they are forever.

Attending a funeral a few weeks back gave me the opportunity to witness a few home truths. There were those family members who spoke with true grief and heartache. Treasured stories were shared in memory that would last their lifetime. Then there were those who stood up unprovoked and proceeded to speak with a tinge of guilt in their voice. You could tell who these people were. They didn’t prioritise their time enough until it was too late. And somehow  getting up to speak would make this feeling go away. I doubt it will, so never ever make that mistake in your life.

They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone,and often that can be explored in many facets.  I think we underestimate the power time can have on each other. It ages us and it changes us whether we like it or not. Sometimes days or whole working weeks pass by without much focus on dreams, on intentions, on aspirations, on the things that truly matter most in your life. It takes some perspective to realise we have to take control of the time we do have. Since we can’t store time or save it for another day, once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

And often as I am patiently waiting for the working week to end, I tend to lose sight of that a bit. Often we get caught up in this monotonous life we lead that when something as tragic as death affects you, it’s as if somehow time stops and you begin to reflect on your own life.

But that’s just it. It shouldn’t take a death in the family for you to realise you should have done more, or you should have made the most of your time before now. Sure, there will be moments in everyone’s lives that just plain suck. It can’t be smooth sailing everyday. It’s how you rise to the challenge and make the most of your time that determines who you are.

There will never be enough time in this world, so make time to appreciate the little things. The little things are the most important, they are the things you miss most when you loose them, so take them in while you can.

Don’t take for granted the way your life is today. It’ll be different tomorrow. Don’t make excuses to yourself either. If you’re not happy, do something about it. If you’ve been meaning to visit your loved ones, go and do it. We’re all guilty of taking time for granted. The good thing about it is that time will forgive us if we learn from that lesson.

 “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today”
(I wish this quote was from me)