To a friend who is concerned about spending their time wisely 

Years ago, when I was doing stand-up comedy, I fell into a conversation with an older women, a grandmother type. She was sitting at the bar where I had just finished a set.

After a sip of her 7 and 7, she told me she always wanted to try stand up comedy.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Cute kid,” she said and took another sip. “I always thought there would be time.”  She laughed then looked away as if contemplating her whole life in one long stare only to return and say, “I never thought I would get old…until I got old.”

Ready or not, life tumbles. You get a job, fall in love, get married, buy a house, have children, adopt a puppy, get a promotion, send the children off to school and one morning, staring into the mirror, notice a tuft of gray hair just above your right ear.

Adult life demands so much of us. We often trade in our passions and get jobs to pay bills. Not jobs we’re passionate about. Jobs that are a means to an end but in doing so–we sacrifice so much of our best self.

One of our great mistakes is believing there will always be time.

Part of becoming an adult is accepting that time is finite. But show a little faith my friend, there are those among us who are doing something about it.

We follow our passions. We create. We build. We explore. We crave autonomy and authenticity. We choose to accept our life, no matter how far it might be from the one we imagined, and find meaning and purpose and goodness in it.

Time only becomes a problem when you realize you did not use it accordingly.   

I often think about the old lady at the bar. Her 7 and 7. Her quiet sadness. Her long, faraway look.

A look I hope you and I never find my friend.

Be well,

Jay