Time flows like water. It’s impossible to hold on to it.
It is both enemy and friend.
Time takes, and also gives.
My children were born yesterday, and now they’re almost ready for high school.
The Time Trap
Time doesn’t have to be the enemy.
We try to make it so.
We chase it. We try to optimize it. We download apps to “hack” it.
No productivity guru will tell you the truth.
You can’t manage time. You can only manage yourself.
Time flows at exactly the same speed for everyone. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week.
The problem isn’t time. It’s how we think about it.
Here’s the first paradox: the harder we grip time, the faster it slips away. We exhaust ourselves swimming against the current instead of learning to float.
So if we can’t manage time, what can we do instead?
Presence Beats Productivity
When we stop fighting the current, we can finally feel the water.
You don’t have to optimize every moment.
When your child wants to talk, the dishes can wait 10 minutes.
I used to pride myself on multitasking. Folding laundry while taking calls. Doing my admin while watching TV.
I was busy. But I wasn’t present.
Now I do one thing at a time. My work is better. My relationships are stronger. And I know what’s happening on my favorite TV show.
Another paradox: doing less made me accomplish more.
Presence taught me to notice not just when I was fully engaged, but when my energy peaked.
Energy Over Hours
You don’t need more time to write. You need to write when your brain works best.
For me, that’s 8 AM with coffee, before the chaos starts.
For you, it might be 10 PM when everyone’s asleep.
Stop forcing yourself to create during “normal” business hours that don’t work for you.
Four focused hours beat eight scattered ones.
Just as each day has its rhythm, each phase of life has its own natural tempo.
Seasons Over Speed
Life has seasons.
When my kids were toddlers, I couldn’t write 3,000 words a day. I barely managed 300.
Fighting your life’s natural flow only burns you out faster.
You can never control time.
But what happens when we stop fighting altogether?
The Paradox
The more you try to save time, the more you lose it.
The more you try to slow it down, the faster it goes.
But when you stop controlling and start receiving, something shifts.
Time becomes less about quantity, and more about quality.
Like water finding its level, life flows toward what matters most.
The Only Time You Actually Have
Right now.
Not the past you’re grieving or the future you’re worried about.
This breath. This heartbeat. This word being typed.
When my kids were young, I couldn’t understand how I was supposed to enjoy every moment.
The older folk who gave this advice, didn’t explain how I should appreciate 3 AM feedings covered in spit-up.
Now I know they meant: Notice every moment. And let it be exactly what it is.
The Real Work
Making peace with time isn’t about productivity hacks or perfect schedules.
It’s about accepting that time is both current and container, both river and riverbank.
Remember what I said at the beginning? Time takes, and also gives. Now I understand what that really means:
- Time gives us everything (consciousness, love, the ability to create)
- Time takes away everything (youth, loved ones, our precious days)
Time is the book you’re writing your life in.
One imperfect, irreplaceable day at a time.
That could be enough.
It could even be everything.
