As we embark on 2011, we start on a fresh set of hours. 8765 of them. When I think about this number, I take a look back to see how I spent many of those hours last year. I spent some of that time either running, reading, writing and moving about the rooms of my life doing ordinary things.
I also spent a great deal of those hours worrying about scenarios that never came true, investing time in friendships that ultimately caused disappointment, and replaying moments in the past, analyzing what I could or should have done different. The point is I dedicated so many hours on matters that were wholly inconsequential.
The passage of time is an obsession for me. And it is disconcerting to me to realize so much of my time was squandered.
I’ve never been a resolutions girl, but I do believe in new beginnings. This year I am taking a vow to honor my hours. How about you?
Image by Aaron Geller
Welcome! I am a lawyer turned freelance writer, essayist, and editor. On staff at Literary Mama and the co-founder and co-editor of the literary journal, The Sunlight Press, my essays and reported work have appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily, Saveur, Civil Eats, Brain, Child, ESPN and elsewhere. I am currently at work on a memoir on grief and culture and how it provides perspective on life’s ordinary graces. I invite you to appreciate the ordinary with me. I hope my daily practice of seeing the magic in the mundane helps you celebrate and find more of these moments in your life too.
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Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I loved your pics from Egypt. Looks like you had a reflective adventure.
Oh, Rudri, I know just what you mean about wasting time worrying. That is probably my least favorite, but most common, hobby.
I don’t really have a New Year’s resolution, per se, but I’ll continue working on my Happiness Project, with an eye toward simplicity and realism.
Happy 2011 to you and your family, Rudri.
If you ever find out a way to stop the worrying, please let me know. I think your goal oriented Happiness Project will help pave the way to at least limiting how much time you dedicate toward worrying.
Thanks for the New Year wishes!
I like the idea of honoring our time. It feels more lovely then keeping our minutes useful or wasting them. I certainly hope to be thoughtful with my time.
Kate: I found it easier to think about honoring the hours. It seems more tangible to me, rather than looking at the individual minutes. Hope this New Year brings you time that you will treasure.
That’s such a great way to look at it. I’m definitely going to honor the hours!
I feel like I have wasted a lot of time this past year as well. “honor the hours” – I like that!
Honor the hours, indeed! And the moments and the minutes. So hard, but so important. I’m learning too, because my hours seemed to literally spin out of control last year. This year I refuse to let them spin, instead I hope to let them coast.
Yeah, I waste quite a chunk of time worrying.
I believe this is an amazing way to start the New Year. Honor the hours.
What a great way to look at it. Honoring the hours. I love this!
All weekend I’ve been yearning to listen to that song from Rent about measuring the 525,600 minutes in a year by sunsets and cups of coffee. I really do feel a deeper appreciation for time right now, a relief at being given more days to live, really live. I earnestly hope I can remember to honor the hours after the newness of the new year has passed.
Oh yes. I’m trying this as well. Honor my hours and not waste one minute.
I vow to honor my hours and I love that phrase and idea. I am a big proponent of “happier hours” and hope to have many of them in the years to come. I wonder though – if some of our hours weren’t tough and tricky, full of struggle, would the good ones be so good? Great post as always.
Rudri, after reading this post, i started to worry that maybe i don’t worry enough. But of course that’s just not possible because i’m a woman and a parent. So yes, i’d love to know how to eliminate worrying.
Yes, many a wasted hour in 2010. I keep resisting the urge to set goals/resolutions, but I definitely could spend many of my hours better. I’ve never thought of it that way…