Don’t Believe: Time

Time never returns,
so we should use it well,
cherish it?

From a young age, we are told—
there are only twenty-four hours in a day.

Eight are spent sleeping,
and the remaining hours
must be used wisely, not wasted.

So we fill our days—
with learning, working, earning, loving, traveling…

One thing after another.

Burning our energy,
burning our youth,
burning our lives.

Some people live thirty hours
within twenty-four.

Some live twenty-four hours
and feel like they’ve only lived fifteen.

And after half a lifetime,
more and more people begin to look back.

Some smile and reminisce.
Some sigh quietly.
Some wish they had chosen differently.

And then—
they continue moving forward.

As if time
has always flowed in only one direction.

Until one day,
we are told:

time may not be linear.

We think of dreams—
where entire lifetimes unfold in seconds.

We think of memories—
how the same moment changes
each time we revisit it.

We think of imagination—
how the future can be lived
again and again in the mind.

Perhaps time is not only moving forward.

It folds,
overlaps,
lingers—

and sometimes,
it seems to disappear entirely.

There is a saying,
“As something is born, it is already dying.
As something dies, it is already becoming.”

If that is the case—
what is it that we have been chasing all along?

Is it time itself,
or the fear of “wasting” it?

We think we are planning for the future,
but perhaps we are only filling the present.

We think we are cherishing time,
but perhaps we are only afraid to pause.

If memories can be reshaped,
if meaning can be reinterpreted,

then is the “past”
still something fixed?

If the future exists only in imagination,
then what exactly are we anxious about?

Perhaps time was never a straight line.

Perhaps it is more like a field—
constantly shifting.

Sometimes stretched,
sometimes compressed,
sometimes simply… still.

If that is true—
then maybe I don’t need to try so hard
to use every minute well.

Maybe I don’t need to prove
that I have not wasted my time.

Maybe it is enough
to be truly present
in a single moment.

Because that moment
may already contain
both past and future.

The time you think you can hold onto
may have never existed at all.

And don’t believe what I’ve said—
think it through for yourself.