Time is like a circus — it is always packing up and moving away. No sooner do we sit ourselves down to enjoy time, but it is gone again.
Like a Pokemon, you spend more time chasing it than savouring it. It is the most precious commodity that we have, it is the most valuable thing we can spend, yet we starve ourselves of it so that we can have a future in which there will be more time.
When we are young we seem to have too much of it; as we age, the ticking of the time clock rings solidly in our ears.
In order to enjoy time, you have to make time. And to make time, you have to prioritise.
I had a bit of an auld scare a few years back during which I thought time had run out. But thankfully, it hadn’t. Since then, I strive to make time for the things that matter, and allocate less time to the things that really don’t. The things that occupied me before that seem witless now, when I consider the amount of time I allocated to them.
This week I am reminded of time, because of the approach of Culture Night next week. If you look at our centre pages, you will see a whole host of events and activities for Culture Night in Galway city and county. Because it all happens over a short period of that aforementioned time, every year I regret not getting to more of the events. But it is not possible to get to everything because they are all compressed within that set period of time, ie the aforementioned Culture ‘Night’.
There are events in places to which we rarely have access — there is a whole host of events that come under the broad stretch of culture that we have defined for ourselves during our exhaustive and ultimately successful bid to be named the European Capital of Culture for 2020.
Every year when Culture Night comes around, I feel like the kid in the chocolate factory seeing all the wonders, yet realising that I possess only one mouth with which to eat all the goodies. There are times when you go somewhere like Charlie Byrnes where you become overawed by the thought that we never have enough time to read all of the great books that are stored there.
There are books on 100 Great Films You Should See Before You Die or 100 Great Places You Must Visit Before You Die (Maybe these are better to see after you die ‘cos there’ll be no queuing at airports ). People talk of bucket lists, but these things will only ever leave you frustrated.
To make the best use of time, look at the menu of life that is placed before us all, and select the things that you most want to see or do.
In our centre pages this week, we carry four pages of the wonderful programme put together by the Galway City Council and the County Council, with help from the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
It is a wonderful array of the sublime and the ridiculous, from the serious to the hilarious. There is something there for all the family.
Pick some things and treat your senses.
And make time for yourself.
Remember, if you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.
