Korpo

There's a song that I really like, it has strong lyrics and I can really get into it. It's "Time" by Pink Floyd:

Originally Posted by Pink Floyd

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say

(Pink Floyd, "Time")

There's a sentiment expressed in this song. It expresses how life can pass us by. It may speak to many people who have goals, who made a bucket list of sorts. It tells about how time, once in such ample supply, may drain away.

I'm 33 years old, so maybe I cannot relate as well. But people even younger than me, they worry about getting that house, that dream job, having kids, but whether these goals happen or not, time passes and leaves this feeling. What defines a truly satisfying success?

Maybe I'm not where I used to want to be. But the place I am now in has spared me this feeling. I don't look at a list of accomplishments and see my life as having drained away. Realising this actually took me by surprise. What else could I want?

Life had its challenges, and for me they happened in a short time. Everything happened real fast - marriage, the birth of my son, other events, and it sometimes seemed too much too handle. They had not come with careful planning either. One thing happened after another in quick succession.

I can easily see how the time people invest in raising their kids or other demanding projects may easily make the time pass by so fast. You get up, you do what is required of you, you go to bed, and suddenly the time is gone.

But buried within these challenges is also growth, and when you tackle these challenges and make that growth a reality, none of these moments is ever wasted. And not only that, it doesn't feel like waste at all either.

I don't feel like I could subtract something from what has happened, the good, the bad, it is part of my growth, my process, my progress. There are no big regrets. I don't want to go back and escape into the past. The years have not only added up, they also count for something.

What an unusual reward. As many things in my spiritual journey it has come entirely unexpected.