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In this episode of Navigate the Day, I sit with Seneca’s reminder that life isn’t actually short—we just waste more of it than we’d like to admit. His words hit harder than I expected. Not because I’ve mastered any of it, but because I’m starting to recognize just how much of my own time I’ve let slip through my fingers. Not through anything dramatic—just distraction, regret, avoidance, and a kind of drifting that’s easy to fall into when life hasn’t turned out the way you hoped.

This past week, I’ve been wrestling with what it really means to value my time when I don’t feel all that hopeful about where my life is headed. I’m not living like today is my last day, and honestly, I’m not sure what I’d even do if it were. Some regrets can’t be undone, and some dreams feel too far out of reach to chase anymore. That makes it easy to believe that my actions don’t matter, or that it’s too late to change anything meaningful.

But Seneca’s challenge isn’t about grand gestures—it’s about intention. It’s about acknowledging the time I do have and how easily I let it slip away by giving my attention to the wrong things: old mistakes, impossible “what-ifs,” jobs I don’t care about, and opinions of myself that keep me stuck. I get overwhelmed by the big picture, but the Stoics keep pointing me back to something smaller and more manageable: the present moment, and what I choose to do with it.

I’m beginning to see that the only things truly mine—my choices, my judgments, my character—are exactly what I’ve been neglecting. I don’t trust myself the way I used to, but maybe part of valuing time is learning to rebuild that trust one small decision at a time. Even if the future I wanted is gone, I can still shape the day in front of me. I can still learn discipline. I can still try to face unpleasant truths instead of hiding from them. I can still choose to improve my situation in small, imperfect ways.

I don’t have all the answers. Most days I feel like I’m drifting more than living. But reflecting on time—how easily it’s wasted and how precious it actually is—makes me want to stop letting my days blur together. I may not be able to rewrite the past, but I can stop letting it write the rest of my life for me.

Be Stingy With Time is my attempt to step toward that: to be more intentional, more aware, and maybe a little more courageous with the hours I have left. Not because everything suddenly feels meaningful, but because I’m starting to understand that meaning is something I have to create through what I choose to do next.

Thank you for listening and joining me on my journey of self-discovery!
Mediations and Prompts influenced from The Daily Stoic Books

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