Passion Project Week 7: I just don't have time...

How often do you hear yourself say the phrase, "I just don't have time"?

In honor of my amazing linguistics professor, Cornelia Paraskevas, let's break down at least one of these words.

We will begin with the word 'just'.

The history of his word takes its roots in several senses. We are to understand that 'just' could relate to justice, or 'as in "exactly" in space, time, kind, or degree; "precisely, without interval, deviation, or variation" (Etymonline.com, 2025). When we say we 'just' don't have time, perhaps we are saying that we do not exactly have time or there is not a precise way to manufacture the time we need or desire.

Have I bored you yet?

My point, which I'm late coming to, is that to say we 'just' don't have time, is 'just' not true. At least, I am learning that as I muscle my way in promoting and managing this passion project. This week has felt like one of those weeks where time has slipped through my fingers and I'm left at the end of the day to process the anxiety of all the unknowns.

More than once I have muttered under my breath, 'where has the time gone'. Or I have clawed my mind back into the present from its drifting into the lane of tomorrow, maybe, and I wish.

I 'just don't have time', because I'm trying to do everything to be where I'm not supposed to be until later next year. I'll tell you a brief story to make that make sense.

Towards the end of one of my favorite movies, The Portable Door, the lead character comes to the gates of death. The demon there ruefully declares that the lead character is not due for death for another hundred years.

When I have an idea it crystallizes in my mind and I can see it clearly. I can see where it could go, just not how I'm going to get there (insert anxiety). It's like I'm in a jungle, I climbed a tree, I've seen the end goal, and now I have to hack my way through the forest. I know how wonderful and beautiful the end could be, only I forget that it is going to take a lot of time to get through all of that foliage.

In other words, I'm at the gates of death in my mind, but I haven't lived the life I'm supposed to live.

President D. Todd Christofferson said in a message once, that we do not have enough time to do everything. He explained that we can't do all the good things we want to do, which means we certainly don't have time to do things of little worth (Seeking the Kingdom First: How to Align Your Life with God’s Will, 2025).

In all that we don't have time to do, why don't we say, 'I just don't have time to worry'? Or, 'I just don't have time to be mean'?

I do those things. I worry. I'm terse or unkind. Because I'm not where I wish I was or think I should be. Why do I make time for that? What if I made more time for faith in my thoughts and actions. I don't know if this passion project will take off and start producing the return on our investment, but I could make more time and head space to believe that it will.

I read today that most advise is self-serving. I'm not here to give advice, but I do wonder what you need to make time for? What are you making time for that is not helping and maybe hurting? What is something you wished you had time for, that you could reinsert into your day, even if you don't have... the time?

I thought today, there is all the time in the world, I just don't see it that way. Yes the chores need done. The laundry washed. The kids picked up. The notation completed. Phone calls returned. Scriptures read. Prayers uttered. Hands to hold. Service to render. Meals to eat. Mountains to climb. On and on it goes, but when we arrive at death's door, some of those things won't matter at all.

As I come to a close today, I think one of the benefits of starting each day at death's door might be how careful I would become with my time. For as Tock says in The Phantom Tollbooth, time "is our most valuable possession, more precious than diamonds. It marches on, it and tide wait for no man." If my time is precious, then I want to use it the best I can, not worrying or wishing for things that I have little control over.

What about you? How will you use your diamonds today?

Quick metrics check in:

I'm building, building, building. I'm working on two new curriculum that will launch early next year for two different partners. I am also trying to be brave and do more promotion on social media. No new meetings yet, but that is okay. I need the time to build.

Take care,

Slade

sparrowcounselingpnw.com