All in good time
It was surely not an idiot who said, "Life is a race!" While this punchline may have simply been a dialogue peppered in the movie script in jest to draw out a few laughs from the audience, beyond the screen, these words embody a gospel truth. A phrase as simple as that rarely calls for a lengthy discourse to throw light on its meaning, but I beg of you to indulge me for a few moments, as my own interpretation of the line may open up new windows of perspective for you.
The grand majority of us have ceded to a lifestyle unbeknownst to us cycling through a series of daily tasks, mundane and for the most part immutable. Rinse, repeat, day after day, week after week, month after month … And when we finally remember to stop, and take stock of the situation, we find ourselves exactly where we were all this time, rooted to the same spot, while life, on the other hand, has already zoomed past us. Life, indeed, is a race; we are the ones it is racing against.
From the limited supply of our waking hours, we channel at least half into our jobs, and the other half, comically, getting to the place where we'd spend the first half, besides cooking, eating, doing the laundry, cleaning, personal hygiene, activities necessary for sustenance. In the end, we're left with a measly thin slice of the pie that we call 'me time'.
Readers, the intention of these words isn't to intimidate, but rather, to underscore the fact that there are a lot of candidates vying to claim your time, and it rests with you to defend it. Seize back control, set up boundaries, no one can stop you from it; your time is rightfully yours. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Go watch the movie you've wanted to watch for ages. Go try the the new Asian restaurant that opened around the corner. Make that plan of playing badminton with your friends. Convert that idea that's been on your mind into a book. Play the guitar for a bit (however off-key that sounds). Learn a new skill. Touch some grass. Live, Goddammit! Just remember, in this dog-eat-dog world, only you can be your strongest advocate.















