My first fifty years were a constant race against time. With our move to Switzerland, I received what I had always wished for – Time.

After our relocation, I did not work, and Zander could get to school by public transport. I suddenly had more time than tasks. The situation encouraged me to think about time and what I wanted to do with this precious gift.

The value of time

Time is precious because we don’t know how much time we have. Nor can we get back time or opportunities that have passed.

How we spend our precious time is usually the best and most visible indicator of what is important to us. It also determines our impact and legacy. Some people have an enormous influence on others despite a short life.

Effective use of time

After many years in a consulting environment, I am used to accounting for my daily activities and reflecting daily on the effectiveness of my time spent. 

I had to decide how and on what I wanted to spend my time, to whom I wanted to give it, and why.

I had to ask myself a few questions. 

• What are the significant relationships in my life?
•  How do I cherish and demonstrate with my spending of time the priority of the relationships? 
•  What contributions and differences do I want to make to others and the world?
•  What things feed my heart and soul, how do I keep my body healthy, and what knowledge and skills do I want to expand?

My Letters Home idea was, among other things, an answer to some number of these questions. The letters were a way to keep in touch with people who are precious to me, but they also forced me to reflect on events and circumstances in my life. In addition, it required me to expand my technological and language skills. During Covid, words became my lifeline.

Time is a teacher and a healer.

There have been times in my life, especially after significant loss and disappointment, when I wished that time had a pendulum or a fast-forward button. I wanted to fast-forward to where I am in a better emotional place and can move forward with my life.

However, time as a teacher has taught me that I must sit down with my loss and pain, look it in the eye and listen carefully to what it wants to teach me. I now understand I needed the lessons and insight for situations and circumstances in my future.

Other times time has brought solutions to challenges and answers to questions. I had to learn to trust time and wait patiently. We should not rush time; everything has its own time.

The era (time slot) in which we live

We live for a short time in the overall space of time. Each era has its privileges and challenges.

I am grateful that I live in an age where we have access to information, technology to support communication and personal growth, and freedom to satisfy our interests. I am grateful I live in a time slot and place where my rights as a female are recognized and respected. In other eras, women’s and children’s situations looked very different.

However, we also live in an era where we, as humanity, must work together to take better care of each other and the resources we have received.

Present, past and future.

Regardless of when we live, we divide time into the present, past and future. We live in the present but overthink the past or the future. There is a tendency to consider the future more valuable than the present. How we think about the past or the future impacts how happy and satisfied we feel.

Lemn Sissay completed his seven-year term as chancellor of the University of Manchester in June 2022. He greeted colleagues and students with a very inspiring poem. I conclude with his poem titled – The gift of time.

Kind regards

Emsia