Nothing You Do Is Wasted Time

Almost all of us have said to ourselves or have heard someone else say at one point or another, “I wasted time doing that” and it is often followed by a statement of wistful regret.

Most of time when people lament they waste time on something. A relationship that didn’t work out, a job or career that ended, or even a college pursuit that didn’t pan out as expected.

My grandfather worked in the publishing business for years and years. Basically his entire working life. Just a few short years before he was of retirement age, his company downsized and laid him off quite abruptly.

My grandmother would say that he was loyal to the company to a fault. She claimed that he had wasted years of his life to a company who didn’t even have the loyalty to let him finish his career there into retirement.

Did he waste his time with the company?

I don’t tend to think so.

There’s no way to know if another company would have done the exact same thing. Layoffs and age discrimination are real. Companies tend to get rid of the older workers making the most money on the payroll.

He had a good paying career during the time he was there and supported his family on one income. He gained alot of learned knowledge and experience during his time there.

Now he chose to retire after that experience, but that was his choice. He could have looked for another job if he had wanted to, with his experience and knowledge.

In another example, my daughter applied to go to a summer art school which required several pieces to be submitted in a portfolio in order to be accepted, and they had to be submitted digitally.

She worked hard getting her portfolio together and had not worked on curating pieces such as this. Her art teacher helped her and she learned some photography techniques as well to get the best angles for her work as she had to take photos.

She submitted everything via Google Drive and was very proud of herself for getting all of her best work together.

She submitted her application. Unfortunately she was informed that she was on the wait list, there were a high volume of applicants, and it was extremely competitive to get in.

Ultimately, she decided to look elsewhere as she did not secure a spot. She received another opportunity to attend a fashion design course in NYC instead.

Was the time she applied to the art school wasted?

I don’t tend to think so.

My thought is when she applies to colleges she now knows what she needs to do, she has already been through the process of getting her portfolio together.

It really was a valuable learning experience.

She said it actually worked out better than if she didn’t get into the art school as she found another program that was more suited to her interests in fashion design.

In my own life example, I was married 17 years but after years of working on the marriage I had to eventually leave for my own mental and physical health.

Did I waste time in this marriage which ended up in divorce?

I know a lot of divorced women say yes but I say no, I didn’t.

I have two beautiful children and I don’t regret the relationship.

I did learn a lot of lessons from it though, which I will make sure I don’t do a repeat of in my next long-term relationship.

What do you think about time in your own life? Was it wasted or did you learn from the experience?

Thanks for reading!

– Hannah

https://medium.com/change-becomes-you/when-you-regret-wasted-years-in-a-relationship-d057b851e46a