“How did it get so late so soon?” ― Dr. Seuss
We human beings have a funny relationship with time. We take it, we bide it, we kill it. We love to spend it; sometimes we complain about having too much of it, but more often we lament its brevity. We serve it, we say we are out it, and we wish to hit it big.
They say things change with time, and that’s certainly true. People change with time. And, if we’re growing people, we change for the better. But it can be difficult to see that change in ourselves.
Real change is slow, and it can be difficult to notice incremental change. After all, we are with ourselves all the time. That’s one reason why we can often see change in others easier than in ourselves. (Think of the visiting relative who comments on how much your children have grown.)
A year ago, a friend of mine pointed me to a website called Future Me. Future Me allows you to compose an email to yourself, to be sent on any date in the future. Last week, I received my email from a year ago. Past Me was very interested in telling me all about his life. He was just about to start writing this blog (my first post was on December 6th, 2014 - it’s been a whole year!), and he was working on a bunch of personal and professional projects.
Present Me got the chills reading this letter. For some things in my life have changed for the better, while others haven’t changed as much as I would have liked. It was a moment of mixed emotions.
I was pleased to get the letter. Any moment of reflection will be bittersweet; that’s natural. But it is the nature of growth to require reflection, and it is in the nature of reflection to facilitate growth.
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” ― Andy Warhol
Shimmy Feintuch, LCSW CASAC-G maintains a private practice in Brooklyn, NY, and Washington Heights, NYC, with specialties in addictions and anxiety. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. Contact: (530) 334-6882 or shimmyfeintuch@gmail.com.
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