The Luxury of Time
Photo Credit Unsplash
“It vexes me greatly that having to earn my living has forced me to interrupt the work and to attend to small matters.” This quote, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, is one of my all time favorites. It addresses something that I believe many people experience, yet don’t fully realize is such an overwhelming presence in their very own lives: the luxury of time.
It’s such a simple concept and one that makes a lot of sense when you just sit and think about it. There are only so many hours in a day; only so many days in a week; so many weeks in a year; so many years in a life. There is only a finite amount of time for each of us. A lot of this time gets used up for basic life necessities (like eating or sleeping). When we are children a huge portion gets used for education. And once we reach the magic age of adulthood our time tends to become more limited with work and the necessities of basic modern life (like paying bills, doing taxes, cleaning, raising children, etc). As the days and weeks pass, our time inevitably runs low, but the necessities of life keep piling up, and we tend to get more and more stressed. Yet, we don’t really think about it. How can we? There is always so much that needs to be done.
Yet, there are people that do manage to have time. To have the freedom to enjoy life. To not get bogged down with the never ending pile of everyday stresses. There are many that believe in the philosophy that “if they can do it, then so can you! You just need to work a little bit harder.” But, that’s a blatant attempt to miss the point and to make believe that life is set up fairly and equally. It is rarely through sheer individual effort that people are able to achieve that freedom that everyone craves. Instead the freedom to enjoy life, the luxury of time, is typically a result of power, inheritance, connections, and of course wealth.
The wealthy have the ability to pay others to “attend to small matters” freeing their time up for more important work or just the ability to enjoy life. Think about how much time you could free up if you could afford a cleaner, or a gardener, or a chef? What about a nanny or day care system? What if you could leave all of your finances to an accountant? Or a personal assistant to run all of those tedious errands? It’s amazing how much time gets eaten up with just these basic necessities of modern life and even more amazing that we don’t really even think about it.
For those of us who have the ability to afford help attending to small matters, we should be grateful. We should not lie to those less fortunate and tell them they just need to work harder. Many people work non-stop and will never be able to afford the luxury of time. Also for those that do have the luxury of time, we don’t need to feel guilty either. Everyone wants to enjoy life and spend time pursuing their passions, and if you are lucky enough to be in a position where you can do that, that is great. However, we should not use our advantage to keep others down. Instead the goal should be to look at how modern society can be adapted in order to give more freedom of time to all. There is no reason why we have to maintain the status quo. Even though things may have always been done a certain way, that does not mean there isn’t a better way to do them. And the only way to find it, is to be open to the possibility that things can be changed for the better. We all deserve the luxury of time.