Each day you’re given 86,400 seconds from the Time Bank. Everyone is given the same. There are no exceptions. Once you make your withdrawal, you’re free to spend it as you want.
The Time Bank won’t tell you how to spend it. Time poorly spent will not be replaced with more time. Time doesn’t do refunds.
Time is your biggest gift. Indeed, it is more valuable than money as you can make more money, but you can’t make more time. But there is one simple truth: Your time is limited. And one day you will go to the bank and it won’t have any more for you. And it will be at that exact moment that you will know the answer to this simple question: Did I use my time well?
I came across that excerpt, from a book by David Hieatt, last week while I was off work. I’d decided to book the 4-days off after Easter, giving me a whopping 10 days straight out of the office.
The passage particularly resonated as I’d decided to have time off, but not to go away and by the end of the week I started wondering if staying at home was really a good use of all that lovely free time. Was just mooching around the house and doing chores really the best way to unwind and relax? Is watching ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ fun or futile (don’t answer that one)?
Turns out it’s quite hard to get that holiday feeling when you’re sitting in the queue at the tip 🙂
But thinking about it, it dawned on me that actually I’d done loads of things, and very slowly and without realising it, I was gradually unwinding and resetting my body clock and my mental health. It was only going back to work today that made me realise how rested I was, and how much I needed that first time off since Christmas.
Some of the stand out moments of the week were:
Rediscovering the joy of a long hot bath – I bought some pink Himalayan salt and spent several hours luxuriating in it with a face mask, a magazine and a glass of bubbles/cup of tea at regular intervals, followed by lots of lathering on of moisturiser – something I rarely get to do after the early morning quick shower. My skin is thanking me for it and my year-old magazine pile has gone down dramatically. Definitely planning on keeping this up with at least one salty bath a week!
Decluttering – an iminent (well, Summer) house move is forcing me to think carefully about the things I own. We are moving into a brand new house, so I have decided that I am not taking any yellow furniture (pine/wood) or anything that I don’t love. I spent a very productive morning clearing out cupboards and donated 5 large black bags to the local Scope charity shop – with an equal number going to the local recycling centre.
Seeing my parents – a relaxed visit for lunch, which meant I could travel out of Saturday rush/shopping hour and spend time with Mum and Dad. I went home with more things than I’d arrived with (see ‘decluttering’ above), but one of them included a gorgeous pair of black glass Chopard sunglasses. I tried to resist, but she forced me to take them…honestly 🙂
Ditchling Museum – on Friday I took myself off for lunch and a visit to the Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft, which is about 20 minutes away. Ditchling is well known for its art and design heritage and possibly its less well-known pubs. The Bull does a great lunch, and I sat at the bar on my own reading and enjoying a glass of wine and thinking just how lovely it was.
With dinner at Nobu, lunch at The Chilli Pickle and some ace cooking (roast spring lamb and beef cheek cottage pie were highlights) I also ate well, cycled 17km on a stationary bike (not all at the same time), got my nails done, drove around a lot singing to Absolute 90’s, ate ramen, took photographs and got lots of lovely sleep in.
So, did I use my time well? D’you know what, I think I did – without planning any of it. Though I can’t wait to go to Spain next weekend – there’s only so much staycating a girl can do…
