The Only Thing You Truly Own
What do you own?
I mean truly own.
That’s a nice house you have. You really take such good care of it. I know, wouldn’t it be nice if it would stay just like this? Something is always breaking. Well, whenever you decide to sell it, the new owners will love it. Oh, I didn’t know the basement flooded last year. Sorry about that. Some things are just out of our control.
How’s the family? The kids got so big. That’s funny, my kids didn’t want to follow in my footsteps either. I didn’t know she’s moving out already. Wow. That went fast. When you moved here, she was still in a stroller. Well, that’s the way it’s supposed to be, I guess. Only so much we can do and then it’s up to them to live their life.
Did you see that presentation on the future of business and those damn robots basically doing everything? It’s amazing. Hey, you didn’t tell me that your department is looking into that too! That’s a lot of people impacted. What does that mean for you? Don’t worry, you’ve had a great career.
I know, I haven’t looked at my account statement either. I refuse. I hate being at the mercy of all these forces that I can’t do anything about. Yeah, I think I am still ok and well balanced, but it still freaks me out to think I have lost so much, and I didn’t do anything wrong.
Oh, wow! That must’ve been scary. You eat so well, and I always see you at the gym. Did you have any family history of that? I hate how these things happen for no reason. I’m so glad you caught it early. I guess an annual scan is a minor inconvenience to make sure that everything stays ok.
What do you own?
One definition describes owning something as having control over something.
What do you have total, everlasting control over?
It's not your home. Or your family. Or your relationships. Or your career. Or your wealth. Or your health.
There’s only one thing.
Your time.
Think about it. Everything else can be, or eventually, will be taken away from you.
Forces can try to impact or take away your time but ultimately, you choose how your time is spent.
So, what are you doing with this one thing that is yours and yours alone?
I had a chance to watch an interesting interview with Robert Greene, a New York Times best-selling author and speaker.
He spoke about the two types of time that we have: Alive time and Dead time.
Dead time is when you just sit around, when you wait until things happen to you. Alive time is when you are in control, when you make every second count, when you are learning and improving and growing and living.
What an appropriate concept. I won’t get into how I spent much of my day yesterday.
There is so much in life that is out of our control and 2020 has given that a whole new meaning. But we always have control over how we respond. Fast forward to when this surreal period in history is over. How will you describe it to someone? OK, sure, it totally sucked………but.
You will either have no “but” or you will stand up, puff your chest out a little and with a smile say. “But I………”
So now, it’s up to you to complete that sentence. What will you do with the one and only thing that you truly own?
Start that book.
Propose your idea.
Learn a new language.
Pick up that guitar.
Plant that garden.
Start that diet.
Train for that marathon.
Make that call.
Tell someone you love them.
Tell someone you’re sorry.
And you know, one of the most wonderful things about time is that it never judges you on what you do with it. It will always be there for you. Every day that you open your eyes, there it is. Patiently waiting for you to wake up.
Giving you another chance to be alive.