Quality Time

My time is the single most important construct of my life. I am very keen and particular on how I spend my time and with whom I spend my time with. When it comes to sharing my time with others, I’ve found my most, important, rewarding and meaningful relationships are those generated from meaningful time spent. Time rooted in earnest, stimulating, and/or emotional conversations as well as the sharing of common values like continuous growth and never settling, both for each party independently but also together as a unit.

To that end, I recently had some distressing yet enriching conversations with an important person in my life. The contents of the conversations are multi-faceted but one prevailing topic that resonated with me deeply was this notion of quality time.

Admittedly, I was rather narrow-minded in my justifications for what I perceived as a lack of quality time on our part. However, what I failed to realize was, the very existence of those discussions were results of closeness forged from a special relationship generated from quality time previously spent.

We often get so wrapped up in our own needs and varying reaffirmations from others that we may sometimes forget to truly embrace and appreciate the moments we’re spending with another person as well as with ourselves. This was the case for me. I was so focused on the quantity of time and activities I wasn’t spending that I failed to truly appreciate the true moments I was.

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The only constant in life is change. The quantity of our time with others will invariably change as often as we do. At some points, the quantity of time with someone will be daily and continuous, take young children and their caretakers. Other times the quantity will be much less frequent. The faces will continuously change, with different people serving different purposes at different points in our life. We may go for years seeing the same individuals that may one day become nothing more than an extra in the feature film of our life. This is OK. Not everyone is meant to be a key figure in your overall life and we cannot be a key figure in everyone’s either.

However, for those special few we each select and hold dear, regardless of the dynamic of the relationship or when it starts, strive to really appreciate and enjoy the time we spend with these people.

The greatest gift you can give someone is your time, because when you give your time you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back.

Make sure you’re using it wisely on yourself and make sure when sharing it, they’re worth it.

Quality>Quantity