We all have horrible things that take place in our lives. But often times we think in terms of, *this person did such and such to me, so that’s why I don’t trust anyone.* But all this does is push the responsibility onto something else. Instead of taking control of our lives, we instead play the victim game. Yes, someone or something bad happened to you. But it is YOU who gets to decide what the outcome will be in your life. You may have not asked for it or wanted it to happen to you, but all that matters now is how you handle it. If we think in terms of cause and effect, we believe that our present and future get decided for us and are unalterable.

Hey everyone, Konner’s recent post about giving and taking time really resonated with me, making me reflect on my own recent relationship with time and contentment. Right now, I'm in a transitional phase where I've stepped back from my job at a local hospital after moving back home in January. It was a busy job that kept me going until early May, but with summer coming up and PA school starting in mid-August, I decided to take some time off to recharge. I can confidently say these past two months haven't been as relaxing as I anticipated. A lot of days often follow a repetitive pattern of waking up, working out, eating, watching TV, and then dozing off again. While physically it seems like downtime, mentally, it's been a challenge. As many of us know, being a collegiate student-athlete creates busy schedules. There would be times I would be busy from 6 in the morning until 10 at night. I thrived on the sense of accomplishment and productivity those days brought. However, now I find myself struggling to feel fulfilled. Reflecting on my daily routine, I realize I've been going through the motions without truly engaging with anyone or growing as an individual. Most days, I feel disconnected. Lately, I've been thinking about Paul’s letter to the Philippians, specifically his main message on finding joy through faith in Christ. The famous verse, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), often quoted out of context, actually speaks to finding contentment in every circumstance through Christ’s strength. True joy, I've come to believe, stems from living out our purpose in Christ which is to serve and build up others toward being disciples of Christ. Although I have tried to create my own happiness through fulfilling my own wants and desires, it has failed me every time. In these final weeks before school resumes, I've made a deliberate effort to center my days around Christ and seek opportunities to serve rather than self-indulge. Despite still doing nothing, I have tried to feel content in the situation I am currently in, understanding there is not much I can do to change it, and I have felt much more joyous in the process.

Nothing I would write home about, but it’s a step in the right direction.

This is topic I was thinking about when I was laying on the turf grass after a workout. In my state of exhaustion and reflection on why I just tortured myself physically for 45 minutes voluntarily, a thought popped in my head. The saying people propose when they need extra time. When we’re running late or needing more time to complete a project or arrive at a movie theater with friends, what do we typically say? We say, “Hey, I’m sorry I’m running late. GIVE me five minutes and I’ll be ready.” I never realized how much meaning was behind those words. Because what you’re asking that other person to do is to treat their time as they would a dollar bill. But that’s not an equal trade. Because time is invaluable. The amount of money people would pay to be 15,30, or even just 5 years younger, would be something that could be seen as a no brainer of a purchase. We treat time like our own economy. How even though we will spend money, we can always go out and make more. But when we “spend” our time, it’s lost forever. We can’t go out and find some job that grants us access to be able to age in reverse. Once we’ve taken or given those 5 minutes, they’re gone. It’s make me think all the times that I’ve wasted my own or someone else’s time. And how I treated time as a renewable resource. When in fact it’s the one resource we haven’t found a way to recycle and get the most out of. We keep wasting our own and others on silly tasks that have no meaning to who we are or what we are actually meant to be doing. It’s a topic that makes you more conscious to how respectful you are to others and your own time on this earth. Because, though you would think it’s common sense, our time will come when we are called to leave this earth. And how did we spend our time? Were we wasting it and doing things that just fed our instant gratification? Or were we channeling it into the things that make us feel alive? There’s 86,400 seconds in one day. I think a strong start for me is using each next second on the things that truly matter. The same might be true for you too.