Watch this video blog (2:36 min) below
There’s a popular phrase in the personal development world that goes something like this: you’re trading your life for what you’re doing. How do you feel about that?
It’s a powerful – and sometimes sobering – thing to think about.
And even though you may be intellectually aware of that reality and actively working to stay present, engaged and grateful, inevitably you’re still going to run up against occasions when you’d just flat-out rather be somewhere else.
Wishing time away.
And yet, that’s one wish we definitely do not need to be making. That will take care of itself. It’s the acknowledge of that fact, and the awareness that I’d fallen into that trap regardless, that prompted me to share these thoughts.
If you’d rather read than watch (the video is below), here’s the transcript:
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On the subject of wishes, there’s an old phrase that you’ve probably heard that says, “Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.”
I was thinking about this over the course of the last week when I was involved in a project and a process that, I’ll just say, I don’t care for all that much. I just don’t like it. But in my current reality it’s something that I’ve got to do.
Regardless of the fact that I would really work hard to re-frame things in my mind and keep things positive and try to stay present and engaged, I still became aware that some vocabulary was popping up in the space between my ears that was saying things like:
“I’ll be happier when this is over,”
“I can’t wait until this is done.”
“I’m looking forward to getting to the end of the week.”
That’s wishing time away.
What I’m essentially saying is, ‘I would rather be a few steps closer to death than where I am right now and doing what I’m doing right now.’
Now to put that in proper context, when I’m saying those kinds of things to myself, what I’m essentially saying is, “I would rather be a few steps closer to death than where I am right now and doing what I’m doing right now.”
So with that in mind, when I start hearing those messages from myself, I feel a real sense of responsibility to ask:
“Am I just being impatient and, frankly, a little lazy with the situation here, or is there something I need to be paying a lot more attention to?”
And …
“Do I need to really be rolling up my sleeves and doing something about that and getting myself into an environment that’s more consistent with who I really am and what I really want to be doing and in a place where I don’t want to be wishing time away?”
If there is work to be done, guess whose work that is to do? In my case, it’s mine. And in your case … well, it can either be yours or you can be victim, which I would suggest is what I think I was doing when I’m wishing time away.
There’s no sense in doing that anyway because I guarantee you’re going to get that wish. The time will go away. It is going to expire, eventually, on every single one of us, including me. So I think a better use of my time would be asking, “What would be the things that I would wish that I could be doing more of in whatever time I have left between now and then?”
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Comments: What Makes You Wish Your Time Away?
Have you, like me, caught yourself wishing time away? What are the circumstances that prompt those thoughts? How might you change them?
Please add your thoughts to the Comments Section, below. I’d love to hear from you.
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