Like A Time Thief In The Night
It was late at night. I was wired… (this often happens to me after a good night of philosophy).
I needed to wind down. So I went on YouTube. And then… I clicked on a video that grabbed my attention.
It promised to be interesting.
It was an analysis of the history of Final Fantasy Tactics (a, yep, you guessed it, tactical offshoot of the regular Final Fantasy series).
One of the games in the series happens to be among my favorite ones.
It deals with political intrigue, betrayal, and finding your own path in a time of deep conflict.
Needless to say, I was excited to watch the video and learn more about this formative piece of media in my life.
But. From the very beginning… I did NOT vibe with it.
I found the dude’s voice kinda grating. And the analysis shallow and lacking in nuance.
Still…
I didn’t stop watching it.
In fact, I watched all of it. All twenty-seven minutes of it.
And at the end of it…
I was left feeling angry, disappointed, and like I wasted close to half an hour of my life.
Half an hour that I could have been using for something that’s actually valuable.
It was a classic case of a Time Thief in the Night.
Stealing my precious time away.
It’s something that I’ve since learned to be on the lookout for.
We all have them. If we’re honest with ourselves.
Whether it be spending time on social media, reading depressing news, watching useless YouTube videos, or playing a mind-numbing game on your phone.
We all sometimes spending our time in ways that do not work for us.
They are activities that pull us in and grab hold of us.
Activities that drain our energy.
And then leave us with little to no value to show for them.
Some call these activities “time thieves.”
For that’s what they do. They steal your time. Often habitually.
And in doing so, they steal your life.
Slowly but surely.
Until before you know it, they’ve taken years from you.
Years which you will NEVER get back.
If you want to get more out of life, then you need to be on the lookout for these vicious villains.
Because all too often, our energies and our time get taken by them.
Preventing us from living up to our full potential.
Preventing us from living truly good lives.
So it’s absolutely essential for you to be on the lookout for them.
And to eliminate them from your life when you find them.
So, be on the lookout for these time thieves.
For these unproductive, unfulfilling ways of spending your time that you tend to fall into…
But that DO NOT actually work for you.
That leave you feeling like you wasted your time.
They might be things that bore you. Things that drain you. Or simply, things that do not leave you feeling good about yourself.
One and all, these are all villains you should cut from your life.
Find them. And GET MAD at them! Say, NO MORE! NEVER AGAIN!
For they truly are thieves of one of your most precious (and non-renewable) resource:
Your Time.
If you don’t look out for your time. If you don’t consciously take charge of how you spend it…
Then you will, without realizing, continue to lose years (or even decades) of your life as your days pass you by.
If instead, you consciously take charge of your time…
If you get rid of the time thieves in your life…
And replace them with better, more productive, and fulfilling ways of spending your time (like reading, exercising, meditating, or even just resting)…
Then you will be surprised at how much more you enjoy life.
And how much better your life works for you.
Be on the lookout for how you spend your time. For how you spend your days.
After all, how you spend your days is, in the end, how you spend your life.
Eliminate the time thieves that are taking your life away.
And guard your time like the precious thing that it is.
A precious thing you can never get back.