ChickSpeak

We’re needed left and right. It seems we’re on information overload- a meeting here, a class there and a conference, family event or paper due somewhere over there.And those four little words always seem to spill out of our mouths: “I don’t have time.”

Sure, we might be busy. It might seem we have less time than we used to, but don’t we still have 24 hours? Just like yesterday and the day before, we still have 24 hours in that one day.

One of my leadership advisors in college always stopped me when I dropped that phrase. Even if it didn’t pertain to something I wasn’t able to do for him or our organization, my words were interrupted mid-sentence. I felt a tad indignant inside the first time he said that, almost taking it personally. But I slept on the idea. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Let’s look at a couple examples, shall we? Many of them compromise our emotional and physical health because we don’t make time for the right things- or at least those things that are good for us.

I don’t have time to make dinner; I’ll just grab fast food on the way home

This can be a deadly one if you’re not careful. Just because you can’t make time to prepare a nice dinner, doesn’t mean you can’t eat healthy. Living simply is often the way to go; boil up some whole grain pasta or eat a nice piece of fruit.

Plenty of ten-minute options are out there that don’t involve dishes or a drive-thru. Even those light Lean Cuisines or Smart Ones are better than greasy meals wrapped in cardboard and aluminum foil. And we all know that even those salads and “healthy options” aren’t so great when you add all the salt preservatives and dressings.

I don’t have time to hang out with you tonight because I have too much work to do; we’ll just have to reschedule

We often put work and intellectual matters before relationships, placing obligation before pleasure. And it’s good to prioritize, but why are we turning that person down? Is it because we decided to fill in that time slot with something “more important” last minute? Is it because we didn’t include them in our schedule ahead of time?

Or, could it even be that we’re lying and we just don’t feel like it? Do your friends a favor and don’t use “I don’t have time” as a lying-through-your-teeth excuse. Sure, things come up. But who wants to be known as the unreliable one who always blows people off? I know I don’t.

Sorry I didn’t have time to help you with [fill in the blank] last night; I had too many other things to catch up on

Oftentimes, we selfishly use the four-word phrase to buy us more of our own time; but if you’re not planning on helping someone, just tell them. It will save them some time, too. If you truly want to help a friend or family member learn how to use something, do some work on their house or contribute in the local community, for example, then you’ll make time to do that.

Think about how rewarding it can be to help others, even if it takes work to fit it into your schedule. It can give you a break from all the everyday, looming requirements. You might even feel more productive because you’re doing something you don’t do everyday.

If we constantly find ourselves making the excuse that we need more time, maybe we’re doing too much?

Or, maybe we’re spending too much time on one thing?

Everyone organizes in her own way with varying commitments and amounts of free time, yet all are left with an equal amount of those ticking moments.

Try to reword the phrasing, either to yourself or someone else. Say, “You know what? I’m not able to make the time to do this today.”

And that might sound insulting, but it’s not. Telling a friend you can’t make time for them isn’t a dig; it’s simply the truth. You had other priorities, quite possibly more pressing. Maybe you took care of errands, cleaned the house for company, caught up on work for class or for your job. It’s all about priorities, but it all comes down to this: you have time, but you choose what to make of it.

Hey, I’m sure I probably still say those four words every once in a while as a matter of habit. But let’s not make excuses for ourselves here. There is a reason we only have 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week. They were created in a perfect image, the sun rising and setting this way before we were even around, so let’s try to be grateful for that allotment.

If we don’t make time for those things that are not only important to us, but good for us as well, we’re robbing ourselves of some serious enjoyment in life.

Kristin Larmore, a recent journalism graduate of Appalachian State University, loves playing old classics on the piano, is an avid rollercoaster fan and wants to learn how to make a mean pastry.