How many times have you said; “there just isn’t enough time in the day?” We have become so busy with school, or our careers and family, that we couldn’t possibly find time to consider doing anything more than we already do. All of us have become time poor. We are slaves to debt, material possessions, and social placement. We have allowed what we do for a living to consume who we are and define us. We are completely missing out on the real experience of why we are alive in the first place. We are not here just to exist, but to enjoy life.
Most people that I know work a full time job or are in school full time, or both. We all have family and peer obligations and every one of us gets trapped in a daily commute of some sort. Our rushed lifestyle becomes a constant chase of time, and as time goes by it always leaves us with the familiar feeling that there never will be enough of it to do all of the things that we think we need to do before we die. How will we ever escape from our daily grind when there is only twenty-four hours in a day and we are busy for all of them? Where will we ever find the time to be free?
Harris Interactive conducted global online surveys on behalf of the travel websites: Expedia and JetBlue. These surveys show that Americans consider travel and vacationing as if it is an unaffordable luxury and not a necessity. Fifty-seven percent of working Americans had unused vacation time at the end of 2011, with most leaving an average of seventy percent of allowed time off to go unused. Twenty-three percent of those who end up skipping time off use the excuse that their work load is too demanding and they are banking time for future use when their employers demand less of them. Even an illogical thinker would deduce that the more you sacrifice of yourself, the more you will end up loosing in the end. I assure you, these managers you expire yourself for take their vacations and use their time off. Career Builder did a survey in June of 2012 that showed eighty-one percent of the managers surveyed had at that time already taken their time off of had their time off planned. That is profound in comparison to the sixty-five percent of their employees who will not get to enjoy their time allowed. Additionally thirty-seven percent of these corporate managers said they expect their “valued employees” to check in by email, text, or phone while on vacation. Then, there is always the “fail safe” or “go to” excuse that nineteen percent of these hard working Americans use; they think they simply cannot afford to take time off. Furthermore, with the unemployment rate as high as it is, many people fear using their vacation time because they do not want to be replaced. It has become “water cooler satire” for co-workers to brag about their dedication to their job in direct correlation to the time it consumes. For example you might hear something like: “I haven’t taken a vacation in ten years”. But what do they have to show for it? Unsurmountable debt, gray hair and wrinkles, a bad attitude towards humanity, an addiction to antacid and energy drinks, and a bulging waste line from the quick and easy lunches you took too much time to eat. It is a travesty that any one could joke about such a sad sacrifice of life just for the love of money.
Occasionally you will find that rare individual who prefers a high-pressure, fast-paced lifestyle. Even these people will admit that there are times they wish they could just run away from it all. Choosing not to take time to yourself can lead to health risks, a decrease in productivity and the good likelihood of carrier burn out. Chronic stress causes your sleep to suffer. You stay awake at night checking your list of to do’s in your head, remembering the things you didn’t have time for the day before. You lie awake recreating a new list of things to do for tomorrow; the next thing you know the alarm clock buzzed and the reality of this unending list becomes the first thing on your mind. You become a stressed out pile of mess before you even crawl out of bed. In your haste you completely forget to be grateful for the things you have as you race to chase the things you think you need. Loosing sleep can also alter your digestive patterns; which in turn drastically changes your body structure. You eventually become mentally exhausted, irritable, depressed and anxious. Then your memory begins to fade and you start to make less thought out decisions because you’re just too tired. You will grow increasingly less desirable to others; leaving you with the feeling of isolation even when you’re not alone. You become trapped in the nothingness between work and not work and the rest of your life becomes the collateral damage of your career or choice for higher education.
We choose to cling to certainty and to the things we know. We conform to a time consuming schedule that robs us of our spirit and passion for living. We choose to become prisoner to routine, promising ourselves that we will find the time someday; to travel, escape the daily grind and leave our cares behind. We make these false promises to ourselves as if we are dangling carrots in order to lead ourselves like a horse to the finish line. Where is this finish line we are rushing towards? Is it death? Is this all there is to life? We forget why we are working so hard and on a deeper level we mindlessly surrender to the fact that we feel we absolutely have to keep this pace in order to just merely get by. We loose track of how little we actually need to survive, while we justify the consumption of life on it. We completely overlook the endless possibilities for travel and adventure, and we miss out on the narcotic feeling of wanderlust as our spirit for life fades and we race to our death. People drop dead every day never having known anything more than school, work, marriage and children. They never chose to take the time to feel freedom from any of those things. Refuse to leave this world having that regret. Remove the wonder of what could have been that so many face during their last breath.
Henry David Thoreau wrote: “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” We should embrace the song within us. We need to stop making excuses and just go. We need to stop waiting for that perfect moment in time that never seems to arrive. We also have to stop telling ourselves our time will come when are able to save up enough money. We must give up being a slave to the financial save and the wait for time to magically appear out of nowhere. These restraints are mystical creatures that do not exist. It is time for us to face our fears and realign ourselves to see the importance of our personal freedom. When we choose to take control of our circumstances; then, and only then will we ever be truly free and give up the lament for a life we might not see otherwise. I am not suggesting we quit our jobs or drop out of school, but I am saying that every one of us should treat our time here on earth as though is it meant for the enjoyment of living. Maybe we all need to learn how to be a little more selfish. Because, how else are we to ever truly able to discover what we really want out of life when we’re constantly living to please everyone but ourselves? Furthermore, if you somehow manage to be selfish, you shouldn’t feel guilty because of it, this is your life after all. It is completely acceptable to leave your work and family in the care of another to invest in yourself. If you don’t take advantage of your freedom and do what makes you happy then you will inevitably end up feeling lost and empty inside. Dr. Cynthia Thaik writes: “Taking time off will revive your spirit, rejuvenate your body, recharge your mind and soothe your soul”. So, step away from the current challenges you face so you can reproach them with a fresh perspective. Take time to figure yourself out and realize what you desire from your time here on earth. You only get one life and it belongs to you, so do whatever it takes to generate the best quality of existence possible. Life is a compilation of continuous risk so spend more time taking the risks that excite you and make you come alive. You might possibly rediscover who you are and deepen the connection you are supposed to have with your heart, mind, body and spirit.
My writings are inspired by the passion I feel about exploring my personal freedom. In exactly one hundred and forty-six days I will be heading out west for four months. There is no specific destination or plans. I have a folder of endless research notes and an atlas with my highlighted potential travel routes. Whenever possible I will not travel on interstates or main highways. I will seek out the roads and paths less traveled; my adventure will take place in some of the most beautiful and remote places that can only be discovered that way. I will be traveling in a properly equipped over-land vehicle and by means of a folding mountain bike, as well as on foot or with climbing gear. I will be living out my research and achieving my dreams. My life will be transformed by simplicity and if I survive, I will evolve a completely different human being. There has been a significant amount of preparation for this adventure and I still have so much to do before I can embark on this adventure. My mind has become consumed by this journey and in my heart, I am completely ready to feel this freedom. I am taking this time off before graduation in order completely evaluate what is important to me in life. I will have thrown myself into the wild and survived it. This time will be for taking a self inventory, and to create a person capable of handling the success I intend to achieve in the business world. This will bring peace to whatever career choice I make. I will discover my purpose and become intimate with my passion for life. I believe I will return knowing what I am supposed to be doing with my life, even if it is nothing as spectacular as my adventure. I cannot really imagine how anything else in life can compare to this. I truly hope to plan my life so that this is just the first of many adventures. I hope my writing can inspire others to choose to experience the freedom they already possess. I believe the world would be a better place if we all embraced our passion for life and fueled it with adventure, travel and the things that free us from social normality. At least then, when we check back in with society and the daily grind, we are able to remember specifically why we allow so much time to pass in between these explosions of personal freedom. In closing, please read the words of this poem written by Tylor Knott Gregson;
“Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you have always loved to swim.”
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