Author: Andrea Grassi

The news in the media are easy to share.
Right now many news are click-bait, and on social you find sharing an event with an unmatched easiness.

These days a news about a musician being fined because he started mounting his equipment 10 minutes before his time.
This has happened on pontevecchio, Florence.
The man had a contract that stated he could use that zone only after a specific time, and he came early, 10 minutes, and started mounting, then he got fined.

From the outside, it seem unfair. He’s paying the bills, he is a good man, he didn’t exaggerate the anticipation (we are talking of just 10 minutes, right?).
So, all in all I thought it was a bit unfair, until a friend of mine noted that he, after all, infringed a law and therefore he needed to pay.
That, after 12 years that no problem ever arise, now it has happened, so there must be a reason behind it. A reason we don’t know because the news doesn’t include this info.

This reason is the other side of the story, the part that we don’t know.
Many times both publicly and privately we know only a part of the story, the part that’s been told, and we fail to desire to discover the other side of the moon, the dark one, the one that doesn’t get the attention because it might clear up it all.

We prefer the fiction over the harsh reality.

Today a new article appeared, it talked about how we should all aim to have a part time job so that we can enjoy life.

It’s nice, I totally agree with this needing, and I personally believe that it’s the right thing to do.

The thing is… all revolves around a question: How much is worth your time?

Usually the answer includes money, like 100$, 50$/hour, etc.
That is the problem.

Your time is not a mean for money although in reality it is.
Yes, your skill and your time are both part of how you pay your bills, but in the end your time is much more valuable than money.
You experiences are much more worth it and can’t be classified in a numeric scale of money.

The emotions can’t be truly translated into money.
How much love is worth? No, we can’t answer this, and in the same way we can’t truly say how much our time is worth.
The answer is always “infinite”.

Our time is something that only goes forward, meaning that if you spend it in something you don’t acquire, then your time is lost.
Emotions build up, skills build up, the repetitive 9 to 5 job? Doesn’t really build up unless you let it build.

Your family will be your most precious time.
Almost any father in the world sooner or later realized that he should spend more time with his children.
Did we learn something? No.
We still struggle, both employees and employers still struggle to identify that happiness isn’t the amount of money you have in your bank account.
And while it is true that poverty won’t make you happier, the opposite is not so clear, and it’s not about the money.

It’s not about money or not. It’s about time or not.
If you have the money but you sacrifice 100% of your time for it, you have failed.
You have failed to experience this beautiful world as a whole, you failed to connect to your siblings, you failed to make time for a friend to talk with you.

When we talk about freedom, we talk about money.
We should also talk about priorities and will.
What is your priority? As a social being we are used to go out at night, drink at bars, spending that money.
But will that money lead you to an experience you will undoubtedly remember? An experience that will be carved into your memories?

Not always.
So the question is not if you want to have more time for  you. We all want that.
The question is: are you willing to do it?

Closing line: Yoda said “Do or do not, there is no try”.

We are here to experience the world, to amaze and be amazed, to chase our goals and dreams.

We are here to make a difference, leave a sign of our passage, spread the love we feel and let the love outgrow us.
We are here to not be controlled by our ego but to move towards our greater self, our best design.

We are here to trust in others and to feel insecure, to share our deepest vulnerability, to allow people to see our weak side with no fear or worry.
We are here to be the normal people in the world who will still make a difference, but we are not here to be heroes, not the ones Marvel draw to entertain us.
We are the fathers and the sisters that magazine don’t talk about because we do what we must do, because we know it.

We are here to be here, to live this moment 100% and not regret it in a second or two, nor for a day.

We are here to dream, cry, love, die throughout the stream of live.

We are here to smile, we are after happiness, yet we are the one producing it.