The enemy called time
Time. That one word has haunted me more than anything else I’ve ever encountered in life. It's funny how something so invisible, so abstract, could hold such power, yet, it governs everything. From the moment we wake up till we lay our heads to sleep, time is there, ticking away, reminding us that it's moving forward, whether we’re ready or not.
For the longest time, I didn’t see time as an enemy. In fact, like most people, I thought I had plenty of it. “There’s still time,” I’d say. Time to start that business. Time to travel. Time to fix that relationship. Time to become the best version of myself. Until one day, I looked back and realized that time had been silently slipping away while I was busy making excuses and postponing dreams.
That’s the thing about time, it doesn’t stop, pause, or rewind. It doesn’t wait for you to figure things out. It doesn’t care if you’re tired, scared, or not in the mood. It just keeps moving, second by second, minute by minute. And with each tick of the clock, opportunities pass, seasons change, and we grow older.
I’ve come to understand that time is the most precious resource we’ll ever have. More valuable than money, connections, or status. You can lose money and make it back. You can lose friends and find new ones. But once time is gone, it’s gone forever.
This realization hit me hard when I started noticing the subtle changes around me. Friends I used to talk to every day now have families and careers in different parts of the world. Some loved ones I thought would always be there are no longer here. The dreams I once had as a teenager now seem like distant memories. And in all of this, the one constant factor was time quietly doing its job, moving forward while I was too busy assuming I had more of it.
Time is tricky. Sometimes it feels like it’s dragging—like when you’re stuck in traffic or waiting for something exciting to happen. Other times, it flies—like when you’re having the time of your life or watching your kids grow up too fast. But regardless of how it feels, it’s always moving at the same pace.
So what do we do with this “enemy”? Do we fight it? Try to outsmart it? Honestly, I don’t think we can. But what we can do is respect it. Acknowledge it. And use it wisely.
For me, that means being intentional. It means waking up every day with a sense of purpose, even if it’s just for one small task. It means no longer postponing the things that matter—calling that friend, writing that book, applying for that opportunity. It means choosing presence over perfection. Because at the end of the day, I’d rather look back and say, “I gave it my best,” than “I wish I had tried.”
Sometimes I think about all the dreams buried in graves, people who had the potential to change the world but waited too long. People who let fear, procrastination, and comfort zones rob them of what could have been. I don’t want to be one of them. I don’t want to look back years from now and feel regret because I let time beat me.
Yes, time is an enemy. But maybe it doesn’t have to be a cruel one. Maybe it’s just tough love, a constant reminder that life is fragile, fleeting, and finite. And maybe, just maybe, it’s not here to destroy us but to push us. To keep us accountable. To wake us up before it’s too late.
So here I am, writing this as a reminder to myself and maybe to you too. Time is not promised. We don’t know how much we have left. But as long as we’re breathing, we still have some. And that’s enough to do something meaningful. Enough to make a difference. Enough to turn things around.
Use it well.