Reflection.

Time, and Regret.

A speech by Nathan Price.

This speech is something I will perform soon. It also relates to the topic

of all these photo's.

 

Part One-Time

 

86400 thousand seconds in a day. 604,800 thousand seconds in a week.

These aren’t small numbers, yet when converted to seconds they seem to lack importance. Yet seconds are extremely important, how important? In a second you can blink, breathe, speak, crash. With just a second you can do so many things. Now think about how much you could do with a minute, an hour, a day. Think about how important time is. Yet we seemingly don’t value it as much as certain other things. Money, Looks, Status, just to name a few. These trivialities have much greater weight than time does, yet when our time is up, they are seemingly the things we regret caring about the most. Today.com did a whole segment on the regrets people with very little time left had. 3 of the 8 lessons the people gave related to time, and how they wish they didn’t waste it on trivial things. How they regretted some aspects of their life.

 

Unless it’s something you love, than it should be considered a waste time right?Well no, movies, television and reading may considered a waste of time. But it’s just a waste of free time. Not actual time. Of course you’ve could’ve done something more productive, but how would that be better use of your time? Why regret having those good times?

There’s been so many moments in my life, where I could’ve spent more time with a friends, more time with a family member, and choose not to. I choose to waste the time on something else. I wasn’t wasting time that I had already free, I was purely just wasting it. Or is it wasting it? Should I regret the time I missed with them, or enjoy the time I had with them?

 

Part Two-Regret

 

Regret is the opposite of what I’m trying to speak on. It directly counteracts appreciation. As we all know, one regret leads to the next. And the next thing you know your in a rabbit hole. Which of course is actual waste of time. For every ten good memories I have, there is one regret alongside it. Which according to two Cornell sociology professors is quite common. According to there study, 47% of people studied regretted inaction vs action. As time progresses however those numbers increase dramatically. People of older age regret 86% inaction vs there actions. Yet why should regret either? The same study shows that humans tend to over value the times we didn’t take, over the times we did. So did I actually waste my time not being with them, or am I merely overvaluing it as I can’t have that same time with them now? See as I made this speech I realized how much I should appreciate the time I have. The fact that I had a step dad to help me with this speech. The fact that I still have time with my grandparents. The fact that I still have time.

 

 

Let’s say though you could avoid all regret, via very smart choices. Where could you even start? The first step in my opinion, is finding what you love to do. And chasing after it. It may be a low paying job, it may be a long journey to get to where you love. But no matter what you should chase it. One of the most common regrets I’ve seen is from people who didn’t go through with their love. But settled for something a little higher paying.

 

 

I asked these questions to my step dad.

 

“Do you regret the job you didn’t chase?”

John-

“I don’t regret not being a accountant, that would’ve been boring as hell. But I do regret not sticking with the major and going into business.”

 

“If you could give any advice, what would it be?”

“Find something you love, make sure it’s every aspect as well. You don’t want to end up with a liberal arts degree.”

 

The next step in my opinion is the most important. Find someone you love, someone who supports step one. Just like step one, a lot of your time will be with someone you love. A lot of time that could be wasted. Back to our first study, the elderly people had this to say about finding someone to spend time with. “Take the time to get to know someone before committing.”. Take as much time as you need for both of these steps! Because once you find something you love, you can have that for the rest of your time. Yet don’t overthink either of these steps. They should occur naturally, you shouldn’t have to think about how you could regret something one day. These are merely suggestions to keep in the back of your mind while making important choices. Is this the job I want to be in? Is she or he the person I want to be with? It’s all very complex, made even more so by overthinking it. In my opinion these are the only two things that should matter. It can take years and years, but ending life with things you love is all that should matter in the grand scheme of your time.

 

 

This whole speech I’ve been saying different ways to avoid regret and why regret isn’t worth it. Yet at the very moment of writing this speech, I wonder if regret making it. What if the grade isn’t what I wanted (status). What if I don’t pass this class? (Accomplishment.) What if I look foolish speaking on this? (Appearance). I thought about scraping the whole speech, and doing some comedy bit on political parties. But what purpose what that serve? I would be directly going against what I said not to do. So I needed to accept that this was the idea I wanted to follow through with. And what happens afterwards, not to regret the time I spent making it. This whole speech I spoke on major life issues people regret. Regretting inaction, the person you’ve spent your life with. Regretting the time. Yet you shouldn’t regret any time you’ve used. As that would be a actual waste. Time is so valuable. Why waste it on what if’s? Of course I would’ve changed certain things that happened along time ago, but these thoughts only serve to waste time with I have with people currently in my life. Regret wastes time. Movies, tv, reading, are surely a waste of free time. But regret is just a waste of time. I don’t regret the time I spent on this speech, I don’t regret the time I’ve spent in my life.

I appreciate the time I have and did have.

And I hope I helped make you appreciate yours just a little bit more.

Thank you.

 

 

 

Done