"What If I Don't Have Time?"

In the film, Bohemian Rhapsody, recently out in cinemas, Freddie Mercury is standing with his lawyer, Jim (AKA Miami) Beech, outside the office after attempts to reunite with the band, and Beech asks him to give the others just a little bit of time.  Freddie looks at him and asks:

"What is I don't have time?" 

In today's very rushed environment, we are accustomed to telling ourselves we don't have time - be it schedules that are too busy, or simply because our minds are occupied elsewhere.  "I don't have time!", we exclaim, each time another burden is loaded on us and we have to work out how to fit in yet another slot into our already over-packed time-tables.  It's the stuff nightmares are made of.

Yet the above sentence was pronounced in another horrifying sense. What if I don't have time [to achieve all that I ever wanted to achieve] / [to reach my goals] / [to become the person that I was always meant to be] ... for some other reason?

We often postpone things that we owe to ourselves, because other, less important things have worked themselves onto our priority list.  It may even not be the case - there may of course have been truly more important things to achieve but there remains that one thing, or class of things, that we've always wanted to do, but never did.

The chilling question asked is - what if something happened, or is happening to me, that will prevent me from doing what I want - or even need - to be doing, or for waiting around for "a more appropriate time" ? What if disaster were to strike tomorrow, and my life ended here or I lost any of my abilities, where would I be then? What would happen to the dreams built on suppositions that I would live a long life able to do whatever I wanted to, and whenever I wanted to ? 

I suppose that this is why people have bucket-lists, buy (or write) "things to do before I die" and all that.  I often think that, seriously, they are often thinking in light-hearted terms, without any realistic thought to the fact that we all, one day, will reach the end of the line.  Often, such a list of things to do is just as the name implies - a wish-list, and more often than not, this remains so, or at least for the most part, it does.

While, admittedly, it is important to prioritise, and also not to enter some form of rat-race to over-achieve, it is also important to seriously consider that the passage of time does not always make things more possible - and waiting around may not always be the best option. There may be constraints around age, health or simply having moved on into a different phase in one's life. What if I am too ill tomorrow? What if I am no longer able to conceive? What if I were involved in an accident or contracted some debilitating disease?  What if I were to die?

Chilling as it may be, that option must not be buried under the carpet. Not perennially anyway, and certainly not forever.  Time is not a kind or lenient friend, and time moves on.  Our friend with the hatchet, or simply a change in circumstances, awaits around the corner, ready to strike when least expected.

So what if I don't have time? What if tomorrow doesn't come?   It is a frightful prospect.  People who are silenced chillingly never have time - be they silenced by illness, sudden death or some other devastating cause.

This thought must definitely bring about a change in today's practice, which runs counter to the traditional English saying, to leave for tomorrow what you cannot do today.  There are times when we have no time - be it because of a condition dependent on ourselves or something to do with others, those who are closest to us. There may never be a more appropriate time than now.