By Osarennoma Ogbeide
Time as we know is in high demand yet so limited. Everyone receives the same amount of time every day; 24 hours, 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. How we spend our time matters a lot because its limited nature doesn’t allow for it to be stolen, reversed, stocked or even hacked!
Sometimes we get so carried away with work and all that we actually forget to spend time with those that need it. It could be your siblings, friends or even mentees. It all boils down to understanding the time needs of people. While reading a book, I learnt that there are different aspects to which we can spend our time with people. It could be quality conversations, quality listening and quality activities.
For a conversation to be termed quality, it has to have the key things of a dialogue, which is talking and listening. Don’t just be a talker and turn every conversation to one about you. Sometimes you’ll need to listen to the other person and build a decent conversation over that. Other times, the person might just need a listening ear and just hold on to the fact that you understand them. You can then offer meaningful advice and make the person feel valued. What makes it quality is that you’re giving your undivided attention to them, not texting and replying with “yeah” “mhmm” or “exactly” to a yes or no question.
Now, quality activities would involve an activity that at least one party enjoys. You might not like the beach but because the other person does, you can open up your mind to it, perhaps you’ll figure out that the beach isn’t so bad after all. Even if there are activities we don’t like, let’s give others the chance to experience it with us and build memories from that. The time spent is what becomes the treasure.
So in your giving, be kind and thoughtful, careful enough not to make all conversations about yourself, or excluding the other from a fun activity. Intentionally giving your time is the true gift of time. Think about it, which of your siblings has been trying to hang out with you but you seem to always have a meeting then? What of that friend that has been telling you of a play she wants you both to see but you keep cancelling? Even your colleague low-key comes to you for advice but you find it hard to give a listening ear. It’s not farfetched. 30 minutes uninterrupted time may be just what calms them. Simply present them with that gift!
