“IF I HAD TIME”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19721, 11 December 1926, Page 19 (Supplement)

“IF I HAD TIME”

MAKE IT—BY SAVING IT. (By PHYLLIS MONKMAN.) % “Can’t possibly find time!” How often do we hear this stupid remark? Here we* are, in a world running riot with additional transport, labour-sav-ing devices for the home, inventions which lighten all sorts of work —and yet we hiave no time! There arc so many things to do; there is so much to see; and there is so, little time in which to appreciate what we have done, or seen—so little time to think. One experience rushes on another, and we are left in a whirl at the end of the day. One of the best ways to find time is to eliminate waste of time; and one of the greatest wasters of time is wholly useless gossip. In this case, a “still tongue will make a wise head,” and incidentally save quite a lot of time. It is necessary to keep la sharp eye on the minutes; tho hours will look after themselves. Be careful never to waste a minute on non-essential things, and you will save a deal of time in .which to. do things of importance. It is said th'at the busiest women have the | most time. This is true. Ask a busy woman to do a job, and it is done; ask a woman “who has no time” and is always lamenting the shortness of the day, and it is not done! There is another aspect of all this useless rush; this ceaseless craze to see this and that —mostly things of no importance. We are losing the power of discriminiation, and anything is good enough so long as it fills, however unsatisfactorily, tho passing moment. More serious still, we arc inducing what is loosely called in these days “nerves.” This complaint is caused by worry —the worry of trying to do a thousand and one unimportant things in time! From this worry springs the great- f est enemy of the home—fear! Fear is born of failure to give ourselves time to appreciate the fundamntau of life. We have no time to sit down and think things out. Consequently wo lose our grip upon ourselves; then comes the inuvHable result—‘ ‘ nerves. ’ ’ Someone will say: “So much to do; so little done.’’ Yes, but it’s far bet ter to do two things perfectly, than to meander about with la dozen and make a mess of the lot. The position is beautifully expressed in these lines:— If I had the time to find a place And sit me down full face to face With my better self, that cannot show In my dlaily life that rushes so: ,It might be then I would see my soul Was stumbling still towards the shining goal; I might be nerved by the thought sublime— If I had time!