Image: Pixabay
I was invited to take part in the 3.2.1 Me Challenge the other day by Patty at Campbell’s World. The rules, she said, were simple:
- Thank the person who nominated you.
- Provide two quotes on the subject you are set by that person.
- Invite three other bloggers to take part (if they so wish) in the challenge.
The subject Patty gave me was ‘time’ and I really do thank her for making me take time to think about it.
The trouble with quotes is that so many of them are misattributed these days. Over the years, these misattributions become accepted as fact, even though they cannot be substantiated. Did Hans Christian Andersen really say, “Enjoy life; there is plenty of time to be dead.” Or Einstein aver that “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” If I was going to use a quote or two, I wanted to be sure of my sources.
With my birthday fast approaching, time is a subject that has been meandering around my mind for a while. As optimistic as I generally am, I am pretty certain that this marks a point in my life where I can guarantee that I am past the halfway marker. The likelihood is that I am far beyond that and well into the home straight, or, to put it another way, I’m over the hill and going downhill fast. The thing is, that once you are set on that slippery downward slope, you inevitably begin to gather speed… and that should make you pretty much unstoppable. You might even gather enough momentum to take flight… and I rather like that idea.
We have little choice but to accept the march of time, though some fight against its effects, even though we are told that time is an illusion. Physicists have apparently now proved that time does not really exist, and that all things past, present and future have either already happened or have never happened because they are happening all at once. This is mind-boggling enough as a concept, and Einstein (allegedly) said it better, in my opinion, but it doesn’t really us move through what we at least perceive as ‘our’ days.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us,” wrote Tolkien. That works for me. It tells me that I have a choice. I can bemoan the years that have passed all too quickly or look back on a past filled with experience and forward to the next adventure. I can ‘grow old gracefully’ in the acceptable mode… or grow old as disgracefully as I choose, embracing the recycled hippy that has always been hidden by the need for corporate suits and killer heels. I can rail against the changes in my body or watch them with curiosity and fascination as Nature takes the last remnants of callow youth and shapes them into maturity.
Perhaps the biggest change that I have noticed is that I am noticing. Not just the changes in my person, but the changes in the world round me, every single day. The shifting of the colours of summer to the rich, earth-tones of autumn… the swelling and ripening of berries on branches, the lowering sun and the clarity of the stars beneath a colder moon. As I approach my own autumn, the world reminds me that it is, after all, the most glorious of seasons, when the harvest turns to gold and is gathered in.
“You can’t stop time. You can’t capture light.
You can only turn your face up and let it rain down.”
~ Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
My thanks to Patty for the invitation…. In turn I would like to invite Alethea Kehas, Jordis and Marilyn Armstrong to take part in the challenge, writing on the subject of ‘inspiration’.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Some very deep thought in your enjoyable post.
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Thank you, Jim.
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Your essay on time is lovely and as always filled with lots of gems.
Thank you for passing the baton to me as well and I trust I will do as well with inspiration.
Jordis
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Thanks, Jordis…and I know that you will 🙂
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Happiness in abundance for anniversaries of birth. By your post there is no time therefore age is a number in a time that does not exist. X
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Age does not bother me in the slightest… only how well the body keeps working till I’m done with it 😉
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Hopefully much better than we think.
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Mine seems to have other ideas at the moment 😉
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No! I am sorry and hope your health is more on an even keel soon.
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I’ve used this little body well… it is bound to be a bit worn round the edges 😉
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Inspiration is a good one. I can do that. As for time, the older you get, the faster the world spins. This year has been dizzying.
I should get to this Monday or Tuesday, I’m betting Tuesday because today is dinner at the son’s house (he’s getting SERIOUS about cooking and calls me for recipes!) and I know I’ve got stuff set up to post tomorrow, but probably nothing in the hopper after that.
I don’t really “do” prompts except if the right person asks … and it’s a prompt that has something to say. Inspiration has been much on my mind as we all scurry to try to make up for what WordPress no longer does. I often think I’m losing my way, no longer writing what I want to write but rather just writing to fill space. Sometimes, it comes out better and sometimes, not as well … but there’s not much inspiration involved.
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Isn’t it odd when the lads start asking for recipes? My younger son bearded me for the family recipes a week or two ago 🙂
I seldom do promps or challenges either… but I liked the subject of this one.
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It IS interesting. And I think I’ve got something written that I rather like. It needs a little more editing, but I think I’ve got it 😀
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I’ll look forward to it 🙂
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Time is such an interesting topic. Have you read Mitch Albom’s book, The Time Keeper? I loved the Memory Keeper’s Daughter
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No, I haven’t… I read very little fiction these days and usually, when I do, it is an old favourite.
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Reblogged this on Campbells World.
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Thanks for sharing, Patty 🙂
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Fabulous Post.
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Thank you for inviting me to particpate in this one, Patty 🙂
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I enjoyed that but I think . . .Time is something to embrace, so you can savour the moment.
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I’d rather embrace the moment and forget time 🙂
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I loved your post on Time…and thank you for nominating me for the Inspiration theme. Let me see what I can come up with…<3
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I shall watch and wait 😉
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Lovely post, Sue, and wonderful quotes from whoever wrote them. Noticing the present is key – an activity that actually slows time down. 🙂
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I agree, Diana, but the passing of time encourages you to be aware of the moment too…they seem to work hand in hand 🙂
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Pingback: How I Found Inspiration – Jordy’s Streamings
How I found Inspiration
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❤
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I can so relate to this post, Sue. The concept of time is a puzzle, like why does it go faster as we age? And I like the idea of going downhill so fast that I might actually take flight! 😉
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Me too, Eliza… I’m seeing ageing as a ski jump these days 😉
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🙂
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Pingback: #Inspiration #3.2.1 Me Challenge | Not Tomatoes
Well written, Sue! But a little bit sad, this view into the future. Dont you think so? Downhill-Race sounds like a crash will happen next. Michael
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Nature will have her way with us, Michael 🙂 No use fighting that…so I may as well enjoy the ride 🙂
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And really, is it so awful to recognize that you can’t do something anymore? I can’t ride horses and I can’t run. I miss the horses, but not the running. I tend to feel good about what I still CAN do. And that I’m alive. So many people in my world are gone, most of them a lot younger than me. I’m ALIVE. If I can’t be the girl I was, I can still be the woman I am.
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That last phrase says it all, Marilyn. I’m not even sure I would now want to do some of the things I used to… though inside I still feel that I could 😉
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Beautiful post Sue, and I so agree with you on how we take notice a lot more of things we previously may have taken for granted. I often scare myself when thinking too much about the next birthday number and approaching on the latter side of middle age. I think when we seriously begin to think about our mortality, it becomes a wake up call reminding no time to waste because there’s just too much living to do. 🙂 ❤
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I started to think about mortality pretty early because a couple of friends in college were suicides. I knew they weren’t happy but I never imagined they were suicidal. After that, I never took life for granted. And I never assume that people are ‘alright’ either.
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I was always encouraged to think about death as part of life, right from early childhood. It has never really held any fear for me and I value its inevitability as the limitation that puts the shine on life.
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Absolute truth.
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When I ‘waste’ time, I enjoy that experience too… but I don’t consider any time to be wasted. I have either enjoyed it or experienced and learned from it 🙂
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That’s my motto. Wasted time used efficiently is a timeout to take in the little moments.:) x
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Yep… and we need it too 🙂 xx
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Do we ever! ❤
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❤
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Pingback: 3.2.1 ME CHALLENGE: INSPIRATION, WITH HELP ALONG THE WAY – Marilyn Armstrong – Serendipity – Seeking Intelligent Life on Earth
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