As someone that is determined to fulfil as much of my potential as possible, I often have to sacrifice some of my “quality time” with loved ones.
This challenge connects with my previous blog post about the myth of a work life balance. It is easy to beat yourself up about not spending “quality time” with loved ones. However, the reality is that all time is quality time.
It is all about perspective. For example, during the week, the majority of my time spent with my son is putting him to sleep. This is due to the time that I end up finishing and getting home from work. Although I spend more time with him on the weekends, I questioned whether I should cut the time spent on work so that I could spend more “quality time” with him in the evenings.
However, after reflecting on Ryan Holiday’s post, I realised that I am spending quality time with him during that period. Now, I have since made sure that I am maximizing that time by reading to him again before he goes to sleep. But, even if I didn’t do that, it would still be “quality time”.
It is all about cherishing the moments between the moments. Each moment can be a perfect moment. Whether that is time passively spent watching a film with a loved one or time actively spent playing sports or speaking.
There is a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, that says there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. This also can be applied to the idea of “quality time”.
Life is a series of moments and each moment is special.