How to spend our time meaningfully

21100646 Park Seoyeon

        There is a thing, which goes only one way ahead and never stops. It is given to all of us the same, but each person uses it differently. It is "time". All of us already know the time flows one way only and is a limited thing. However, many people regret their gone time. Also, they keep missing their past time. We always regret the past, and with it, we are determined to live our life more meaningfully. Then, how can we spend our time meaningfully and valuable? There is a few methods.

        First of all, cherish every moment given to you. In ‘About Time’, which is a famous movie, there is a main character ‘Tim’ who has the ability to turn back his time. He uses this ability to correct the moments that went wrong whenever he wants to make his life more perfect. In fact, this ability has been passed down from his generation to generation, that is, his father also has that ability. But one day Tim found that his father didn’t use his ability himself even though he got lung cancer. He didn’t change his past because he didn’t want to lose Tim. Instead, he said that he has lived one again every day with his ability. Tim tries to do this to make the day more perfect and live a happy life. However, he eventually chooses to live faithfully in the moment given to him right ‘now’, not to live the day twice. This movie gives us a lesson to cherish now and do our best for the precious people around us. The reason why we regret the past maybe because of our excessive greed to fill our lives with only perfect moments. Why don’t you put down perfectionism, and focus on yourself at this moment and the people you love? Our lives are a series of "now".

        Secondly, turn your eyes on the future instead of the past. Past is passed anyway, and no matter how much you regret it, it won’t come back. Keeping hold of the past does nothing for personal development. Instead, draw a better future based on your regrets of the past. For example, if you regret getting an unsatisfactory score on the test because of your mistake, study harder and improve yourself to get an increased score next time. If you regret that you should have been nicer to someone who left, be nicer to the people around you now and try to build better relationships. There is a famous saying of Euripides, an ancient Greek poet: Waste no fresh tears over old griefs. Since life is short enough to live looking forward to the upcoming future, we have no time to regret the past. Time doesn’t wait for you, doesn’t come back to you. The passed time, person, opportunity, or anything, let go of the lingering feelings and prepare for a new future ahead of you.

        Finally, try your best all-time not to make regrettable moments. If there’s something now that you’re contemplating about whether to do it or not, just try it. Or if you have something to want to do but you’re hesitating to do it because you’re not sure you can do it well, I recommend you just challenge. John Greenleaf Whittier, the American poet, left the following sentence: Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these; “It might have been!”. People regret something because they didn’t even try it. A dream, love, or any words, whatever it is, it’s much better to regret after doing it than to regret after not doing it. Whether the result of the attempt is successful or unsuccessful, you eventually "try" it and can be a better person based on the experience of that challenge. Don’t miss opportunities for change and development yourself.

        These methods are actually not that great, but we often forget these simple facts. Repeated busy daily lives dry and harden our minds. That’s why we feel more trapped in the past and staying in place. Keep in mind that those who just cry seeing albums of the past can never develop. In conclusion, the most important thing is this moment that flows every minute and second. Remember this and fill in your time meaningfully.