As of today, I’ve spent more than 486,720 minutes engaged in doing something this year. Put into seconds, that’s more 29,203,200 seconds, the equivalent of 338 days.

It seems like it’s a lot. 29,000,000 is a big number. One would think it would feel like a long time. Funny thing is, instead, all that time seemed to go by rather quickly.

I know I can account for the 29,000,000 seconds, because I’m still here. So I’ve obviously lived them all, notwithstanding that I slept for a decent sized portion of them.

But even if you cut out a third of the time for sleep, which for many days is optimistic, you’re still left with more than 324,000 minutes, or more than 19,468,000 seconds. Still, a lot of time to be spent.

There are many memorable quotes regarding the passing of time:

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.” – Benjamin Franklin

“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.” – William Shakespeare

“The future is no place to place your better days.” – Dave Matthews

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” – Carl Sandburg

“Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.” – Art Buchwald

I suppose I could print these out and paste them on my bathroom mirror so I see them and attempt to live by them each day. That being said, I’m sure at some point, they’ll become like those billboards we at first see and then ultimately don’t see, as we drive along well-traveled roads. They’re there, but then not there. At one point, noticed, but now just part of the backdrop, the scenery.

So notwithstanding my hopes of making a meaningful commitment about living life fully, investing my time wisely, etc. throughout next year, here’s to taking a few minutes now, a few out of the 525,600 that I’ll have this year, to think about how I’ll spend the half million I expect and hope to have next year.

Best wishes to you for memorable and meaningful times during the holidays and throughout the New Year.