My life is made up of seconds

My life is made up of seconds. And I’m spending the next 600 hundred on a free-writing exercise. And you get to read all about it because I’ve taken a free-write challenge to write for 10 minutes using the title of this post as my prompt. (Actually, it was a 20-minute challenge, but I’m only doing 10.) So, here goes.

Seconds; they pass by faster than we know. They pass by faster than we realise and faster than we’d like on a good day; slower than we plead for on a bad day. Time is funny that way – you know, the way we wish for more of it whilst wishing it would hurry up.

I don’t know how many seconds a day I waste wishing my life was different. Too many, I imagine. And what a waste that is. I’d like to say that I value every moment of my life on this planet and that I treasure all of those seconds, but I’d be lying. I’d like to say that life’s lessons have taught me to live for every moment we’re given, but sometimes I can’t bring myself to be thankful for every moment.

Sometimes, I find myself wishing the moments would fast forward to some great unknown. Sometimes, I find myself wishing the moments would reverse to a better time. But, thankfully, sometimes I find myself enjoying the seconds as they pass by. I like those seconds. I like those moments. And I wish I had more of them.

Time goes by in years and months and weeks and days. It goes by in hours and minutes and seconds. And we lose track. We forget what we’ve done with times past, and we forget what we dreamt of for times future.

How many of my seconds have been lost by taking my world for granted? By taking my family and friends and my own life for granted? I wish there was a way to get those moments back, but they’re gone forever. And I wish I could say I will never waste another one of my precious seconds by taking those I love for granted again, but I’m human and imperfect.

My seconds are valuable. My moments are valuable. My hours and days and weeks and years are valuable. I need to remind myself of that more often. I need to spend some of my seconds being thankful and grateful for the love I’ve given and received over the span of my life – and I need to use some of those seconds to love others more.

[Note: As with other free-writing exercises I’ve done, I am sharing this with you with only spelling edits, so please forgive the clunky-ness of the text. Thoughts don’t always flow with grammar and sentence structure intact!]

2 Replies to “My life is made up of seconds”

  1. I think that you took that writing challenge & made it a perfect “life challenge”! I think I will take your inspiration & appreciate the moments in my life too 🙂 Thank you for a few “quiet moments” while I read your wonderful blog!

    1. I’m glad I can provide you with a few quiet moments. I always enjoy the seconds of my life that are spent reading your comments–and the seconds that follow when I remember what a good friend you are! x

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