Would you slow down time if you could? I ponder that question in week 7 of The Sunday Spark—a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainable living tip for the week. Also this week: a look at alcohol consumption trends among young people, new AI widgets in WordPress, and excessive packaging.
The Sunday Spark – Week 7
On my mind this week: Would you slow down time?
On Friday, my Mum celebrated her 90th birthday. There’s nothing like a major milestone like that to make us keenly aware of the passage of time—the one resource none of us can get more of, no matter how much money we have.
As my Mum’s birthday approached, I took some time to remember other milestone birthdays we’ve celebrated with her. It doesn’t seem possible it has been ten years since we held her 80th birthday party at a local golf club. And I very clearly remember her 70th birthday dinner and party. I was pregnant with my daughter Colleen at the time and Mum’s sister—my Aunt Eileen—came over from Ireland. It’s hard to believe that was 20 years ago.
I feel very blessed to still have Mum with us and in good health. While I hope she’ll be with us for several more years, I realize I can’t take the time we have together for granted. Because much as I’d like to, I can’t slow down the passage of time. I can only make the most of the time I have.
What do you think? Would you slow down time if you could?
P.S. You can learn more about my mum in Mom’s life lessons on simple living.
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Three highlights of the week
A big milestone is something to celebrate, but it’s also important to celebrate the everyday pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:
- My mum and I enjoyed a wonderful birthday lunch together on Friday. I made cheese and onion pie, and salad, and picked up some berry scones at the bakery. It was nice to spend some one-on-one time with her.
- I indulged in lots of Valentine’s Day chocolate this week—maybe a little too much. Now, I’m thinking I need to give up candy and chocolate for Lent.
- On Friday afternoon, I picked up two new books from the library. There’s nothing like a little long weekend reading.
Three things I learned this week
It was another busy week at work, with less time to read and learn. Even so, here are three things I learned this week:
Young people consuming less alcohol
It seems younger people are consuming a lot less alcohol than previous generations. A study from Berenberg Research reported that millennials drink less alcohol than boomers or Gen X. And Gen Z—those born between the late 1990s and early 2010s—consume 20% less alcohol than millennials did at the same age. (Source: National Post)
I’ve seen evidence of this with my Gen Z daughters. I definitely drank a lot more when I was their age.
WordPress introduces new AI widgets
There’s a lot of talk lately about whether ChatGPT and other AI tools will make old-fashioned writing a thing of the past. I learned this week that WordPress has introduced new experimental AI widgets bloggers can use to help with writing, or even to do the writing for us. (Source: Hugh’s Views and News)
This brings a whole lot of ethical questions to mind. Personally, I enjoy writing and feel these tools would take away some of the joy of creating a new piece of writing. Even so, I admit to a certain amount of curiosity. I might give them a try just for fun.
Nesting eagles need their space
Common sense tells us that humans shouldn’t get too close to wildlife but, did you know that human activity can make eagles abandon their nests and can affect the development of young eaglets? As nesting season approaches, keep your distance if you’re out exploring nature trails. (Source: Mike Powell Photography, If you’re a bird or nature lover, check out Mike’s work. His photos are beautiful.)
Sustainable living tip: Scrutinize packaging
Is there anything worse than overpackaged products? From cucumbers wrapped in plastic and packaged inside more plastic, to electronics and other products in non-recyclable plastic that’s almost impossible to open, there’s way too much waste. When you consider the resources required to produce the packaging in the first place, you can see why we need to be savvy consumers.
There is definitely progress and many companies are taking steps to address excessive packaging, but it’s up to each of us as consumers to pay attention to the wrapping on the products we buy.
This week, make a point of scrutinizing the packaging on everything you buy. Look for packaging-free alternatives, or at the very least recyclable packaging.
Thanks for dropping by and reading The Sunday Spark. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.
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Right now I don’t want to slow down time, I want to speed it up for a bit and get large boy past his awful growth spurt. I want my happy bookworm back who reads until 9.30m. This poor kid with a sore leg who is asleep by 8pm is just so sad.
Aww that’s too bad. I hope it passes soon. It’s interesting how sometimes we want time to pass more quickly, and others we want to slow it down. I suppose that’s human nature, though.
I once wrote a blog about me and my superpower to slow time down and be more present in the moment…I called myself Slomo Man. I wouldn’t want time to generally pass slower, but I like the idea of being able to control my sense of time any given moment.
Ha ha. Slomo Man! I love it! Yes, it would be nice to slow down the really awesome times and speed up the not-so-great ones. We’re not asking for much, are we?
It is like when we have gift bags and gift wrapping. Used once then thrown away. Glad you had a good week.
Oh yes. So much packaging is wasteful, and most of it is not recyclable. Ugh.
My wife and I had both been told that life seems to go faster as you retire and get older. That’s been our experience too. Would I slow life down if I could? Hmm, great question. I don’t think so, but I do regret that I can’t have a do-over of my high school years. Not because they were so great—more the opposite. If I knew then what I know now, I’d have put myself out there more. Yet, that’s what life is—a series of lessons.
That’s very true, Pete. Whenever I think I’d like to go back and relive or redo certain times, I have to remind myself that all those experiences led me to where I am today. As for slowing down time, I suppose all we can do is make the most of the time we do have.
I think that now that we are living this new lifestyle, time has slowed down! I could swear we’ve been doing this longer than four months but it’s probably because we’ve crammed so much into those months.
Also think that teens and young adults are drinking less because so many states have legalized marijuana that it has become the replacement for alcohol, which in my opinion is fine. There are so many ways to consume it now, they don’t need harmful alcohol anymore. Now my only worry with that is how productive they are. Are they turning into couch potatoes or are they able to consume MJ and still be productive human beings? That is the concern.
Hi Kim, I’m enjoying reading about your adventures. It seems like you’re doing a lot with the time you have.
You make a good point about marijuana. I think it has replaced alcohol for many. I think my daughters are just an anomaly because they don’t do either. Very different than me at their age, that’s for sure.
Me too! 🤣
A belated Happy Birthday to your Mum. 🎉
Thank you Rachel!
I think it’s time to allow someone other than me to worry about time, rather that’s more or less of it! I can fret way too much over where our world is headed and the impacts that will have on my adult children and grandchildren. I was certainly a part of making the future what it will be for them, good or bad, and now can only do what I think is correct and in my power to sustain or reverse my impact but do I want to see how that all turns out…no, not really. I just want to embrace the time that I have and enjoy it.
It does get overwhelming when we think too much about it. I think embracing and making the most of the time we do have is a great goal.
I don’t think I would slow down time…different seasons bring different beauties…we need a little bit of everything so to speak
It’s true that we need a bit of everything. It is scary sometimes how fast the time seems to be flying by, though.
I wrote a post on Friday talking about my daughters last parents weekend of college…my readers and I were all saying that it seems like just yesterday my daughter was touring colleges
We were talking about exactly that last night at my mum’s birthday party. My great-nephew is starting high school this year. I said I couldn’t believe how quickly the four years of high school flew by for my girls—and the four years of college seemed to go even faster.
You blink….