It Seemed That Time Stopped

Time never stops. Well, it seemingly did for me on February 24th at approximately 8:00 am.?My wife called out, and I found her on the floor, writhing in pain. We had no clue what was going on, so we headed for the emergency room. Time seemed to stop. Nothing mattered except getting to the ER. Meetings would be missed, Zoom calls cancelled, interviews for programs would have to wait. Time Stopped.

Doctors, tests, pain medication and more tests … and all the while, time seemed to be standing still. Decision made - emergency surgery. Time stopped. Final words from the surgeon … “This has gone from bad to worse.” TIME STOPPED.

Sitting alone in a waiting room at 10:00 pm, waiting for news from the surgeon for two hours, will give pause for you to reflect. What really matters? I was on stage two days prior, in Vegas, giving a keynote to a packed house having a great time and now I’m sitting by myself in a hospital, praying my wife will be fine. TIME STOPPED. Nothing mattered but her. Isn’t that an interesting phrase; “Nothing mattered but her.” Time hadn’t stopped; I had. EVERYTHING was put hold. What was once important, took 2nd place.

The surgeon called from the operating room and his first words were, “It was bad.” TIME STOPPED. Stomach in throat. Petrified to hear his next words; thinking the worse. But “worse” never came. He said he got it all and she was going to be fine.

Enough about our situation. I am writing this so all of us can gain something from this experience. I hear it said all the time, “I just don’t have enough time to do that.” Yes, we do. It’s not about HAVING TIME. It’s about MAKING TIME for what is REALLY important. I heard it once said, “Instead of saying, ‘I don’t have time,’ … try saying, ‘It’s not a priority,’ and see how that feels.” You see, if it is important to you, you’ll make the time for it.

When I owned one of my manufacturing companies, I was working way too many hours and weekends. My wife said to me, “Rob, there will always be something for you to do at the company. You could stay there 24 hours a day and find something else to do. You need your rest. Your family needs you. Don’t say you are doing this for your family, because your family doesn’t get to see you. Come home. I promise it will be there tomorrow.”

She wasn’t saying it to hurt me. It was reality time. I promise you… on your death bed, you won’t say, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.” Leo Christopher said it this way: “There is only one thing more precious than time and that is who we spend it with.” I really like that.

We must find the time for the people who make a difference in our lives. Our lives move fast and if we don’t take some time to stop and look around, we’ll miss the important things. I love how Brian Tracey put it: “There is never enough time to do everything. But, there is always enough time to do the most important things.”

Harvey Mackay gave us an increbile quote about time. He stated: "Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back." Life/Time doesn’t stop for anybody … but we can.

All that matters is family and friends. Everything else is commentary.