TIME.
Never slows down.
Marches on.
Is precious.
On my side.
Is in the blink of an eye.
Flies.
All these are cliches of time. Time is defined as the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole (Google.com).
This past Tuesday (May 24th) I experienced a wrinkle in time as it was my birthday. Not a milestone one, but a day to celebrate me. To be excited about my birth, my existence, and my time on earth. My team hid in my office and yelled "surprise" when I walked in. It was decorated with balloons and streamers, and we enjoyed five minutes in a busy workday to eat cupcakes and open presents. I love this team for their thoughtfulness and expressions of love and respect.
Time has allowed me these past few weeks to attend three conferences with a week of covid between. One was a national conference for fundraising professionals, one was a volunteer conference, and the last was an HR conference. All different, but with an underlying tone of leadership development.
You know it's my passion to talk about leadership development. At the volunteer conference, I presented on the Good, Bad, and Ugly of Leadership including the traits, behaviors, and soft and hard skills of leadership.
When I visited the office space of the vendor, Summit Marketing, who invited a small intimate group of emergent leaders to the conference, I noticed words on their walls high above the cubicle offices that listed soft skills. They have created an environment of inclusion, encouragement, and self-reflection through quotes, pictures, and videos. They even have a room dedicated to quiet thought and creativity called the Think Tank and it looks like the inside of a fishbowl. Ingenious!
Time has been busy lately and I need to slow it down. This memorial day weekend is a celebration of my birthday and our 43rd wedding anniversary, I choose to be home not working, but celebrating our marriage, and taking time to be us. In the good, bad, and ugly of marriage, we have muddled through. Provided love and support where needed and forgiveness when warranted.
Time is a fickle thing. It goes by slow when bored and fast when engaged. It presents opportunities and then makes them memories. It changes constantly but wants us to stand still to soak up the moment.
Time is fleeting. As I spent time with my aging mother suffering from Alzheimer's during one of my trips I realized that she doesn't know me, my age, my children, and my grandchildren anymore. She knows the here and now. What she hears, what she reads, and what she sees on television. Conversations are almost difficult and painful with her. Yet, time afforded us a few laughs because of her innocent answers.
When I asked if she remembered what this week was (May 24th), she said no. I told her about my birthday. She responded with "happy birthday." I asked do you know how old I am, as I am her first child of seven children? She pondered a while and answered, "really OLD." We laughed and I told her thanks!? She preferenced her response with you must be really old as I am really, really old.
Time is no longer a factor for her, but the difference between night and day.
Time is precious! Don't waste it. Don't mourn it. Celebrate it.
Use each moment of the day to grow, learn, listen, reflect and relax. Use time to your advantage to be a better leader, friend, coworker, spouse, partner, and child. Time can be your friend and not your enemy.
What She Said ~ Beverly
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