What time is it?
No need to glance at your watch. You can leave your phone where it is, and disregard the clock on the wall. This question does not beg a numerical answer, but a different one: what time is it for you, personally? What time zones are you living in with respect to what you do and who you do it with? Do you exist in the present, stuck in some part of your past, or trying to live in some kind of future?
Here are a few examples to help you with an answer:
- You maintain a personal relationship based on emotions that had long faded. Nostalgia is precious, but it cannot make up for stagnation and other compromises that often result in such a situation.
- The activities you engage in your spare time push you into a danger zone. The fact you have successfully ran marathons years ago should not pause risk to your health, now that your body had changed and signals that fact to you through pain and injuries.
- Your personal taste in food, music, entertainment forms, and other interests had changed. You know a certain restaurant well enough to address the staff by their first names. You have been going to see a particular band since you were in high school. If you continue to attend these places or activities out of loyalty but do not enjoy yourself as much as you ought to, it is time to pursue new experiences.
- Your workplace is nice, the people are nice, the pay is nice, everything is nice. But you don’t feel that you belong there anymore. When the thought of going there each morning becomes a drag, you may want to seek other opportunities.
- A group you belong to personally or professionally is lagging behind you with the activities it promotes. If you are moving at a different pace or direction relative to them, physically or metaphorically, and the only way for you to stay part of the group is by compromising, it is time to seek a place that is more in line with your needs and capabilities.
The relationships you are part of require nurturing and investments in order to maintain their quality, growth, and progress. Activities you join on regular bases, i.e. work, sports, volunteering, depend on occasional checks to validate their relevance and quality. Habits should be checked and updated periodically, especially when you no longer draw comfort or joy from engaging in them.
So, what time is it for? If the answer still escapes you, I may be able to help. A smooth transition is key to a successful life, and ushering such transformation early will save you time and undue agony. Start the change today.