Time to spend

I'm often amazed at the way people spend time; I mean what they do with their allotted time and how wasteful some are with it. It seems to be those who have not realised how precious it is, how easily it can be snatched away, and how terrible the regret that comes from understanding their time was unwisely and unproductively is that are most callous with time, one of the most precious commodities a human being has.

I'm watching someone waste time at the moment; the person acts in ways they probably know (deep down) compromises their personal integrity, burns time in negative and unproductive ways and which almost certainly has an adverse effect on their state of mental health. It's a choice of course and it's no one's job to arrest the backslide...no one that is, except the person themselves, but like with many time-wasters the person isn't enlightened enough to see their actions as wasteful and so the wheel will turn, time will be wasted and their actions will work to their detriment.

Life can move pretty quickly; I had a reminder of this today when a friend (not the person I refer to above) was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given under twelve months to live; sure, the doctors could be wrong but it's unlikely in this case and that means the clock is ticking towards, essentially, a known point in time at which moment it'll stop forever. I wonder what that person will do with those months, what actions, attitudes and thoughts will occur and I wonder if that person will begin to look back on almost forty seven years of life and see wasted time in the past.

I'm catching up in person with them over the weekend and I assume there'll be conversation around those things and more and knowing the person as I do feel that, after some initial wobbly moments, a way forward will be found and followed but what about others who are not as strong-willed or pragmatic? Maybe, for instance, that other individual I mentioned earlier who spends time in negative, unproductive and wasteful ways as if time is endless; I can only assume there'll be a reckoning.

As people get older they begin to think differently about time I think, I'm one hundred and sixty three and I certainly do...the time one has tends to get used in increasingly better ways; but with so many resources available to younger people, so many lessons all around, it confuses me why they don't learn, don't find better, more efficient and effective ways to proceed.

Have you had experiences with time wasting, your own time or someone else's? Why do people do it even though there's so many examples of why not to? Have you determined you've wasted time in your life and made a change? If so when, how and why? feel free to comment below if you've got any thoughts.