Twenty four
“If you are not prepared for discouragements and disillusions; if you will not be content with a small result for a big effort, then do not begin. Lie down again and resume the uneasy doze which you call your existence.” - Arnold Bennett
In Arnold Bennett’s How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, the author offers practical advice on how one might live as opposed to just existing within the confines of 24 hours a day. He argues that when many of us say “I’ll do that when I have more time” that we are merely deluding ourselves- that we shall never have any more time, because we have all the time there is. In other words, that we are given a certain amount of time to live or exist and that’s it. No extension for difficult projects, no reduction when wasting time either. You have 24 hours to work with each day regardless of what you do with it. Until you die of course.
The notion that time is precious, one that most of us agree on, makes its limited quantity a stressful reality. For the working class, we sacrifice approximately 75% of a waking 16 hour day (that’s if you work for 12 of them). And if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, no one is going to make your days longer out of pity on your soul. You’re in charge, in complete control, of what you decide to do with your time. Of course the working life is a terribly tricky one to evade and many argue that this attitude is unhealthy. Sometimes we have to do what we have to do in order to feed our families or stay above water. But what are we doing with the other 25% of our day? Watching TV? Having a night out with the boys? Playing console games? If so, if recreation is all you live for it is regarded as simply existing by Arnold Bennett’s (and many others) standard. We all need a little recreation now and again, but to have it as the sole purpose of your life is merely existing.
Living, according to Bennett, would be when one takes at least a few hours a week to better oneself outside of work. Learn to play the guitar with the intent of playing in a band, practice cycling with the intent of riding the Cape Argus or study astronomy with the intent of better enjoying gazing at the stars. And if you want to get a better job or change careers, you need to take time to enable yourself to do so. Pushing your own limits in terms of who you are and what you are capable of transcends mere existence. Working towards a goal and enjoying, not merely receiving, the reward is living.
One challenging work scenario that I have heard was when someone told me that in some places of the world there are people with hotdog stands who start selling at 6 AM in the morning and close at 10 PM for 7 days a week. This is their livelihood and they have no opportunity to do anything else because of the confines of their working hours. I would find doing such a job out of necessity rather restricting, even crushing, but if I found myself in this predicament I’d have to decide between existing and living. If I decided to exist then I’d sell hotdogs until I reach an age where I am not capable of doing so anymore and inevitably die as someone who sold hotdogs. There would be nothing wrong with this decision if I were to be content with it, but if I were to decide to live, then I would have to strategise. I’d have to fight the restrictions I found imposed on me. Perhaps socialise with people and figure out if they can offer me advice or weekend jobs that might pay more. Try and find a way to increase the opportunities I can create for myself. If I do well at weekend jobs, maybe I will be able to earn enough money to take half a day off once a week to study something at the library. Something I want to study. And after years of doing this, maybe someday I could sell the stand and do something that would give me more time to work on doing something better. If I’m lucky, perhaps being driven will get me closer towards living my dream. Now I’m sure, dear reader, that you might be thinking, “Wow that is so much easier said than done” and I would have to agree, but I would like to refer you back to the introduction quote.
It is important to appreciate the power of dreams. I am an avid believer in following one’s dreams and it is inspiring to watch someone else doing it. If I am truly an ordinary guy in an ordinary world, yet all I crave is the extraordinary- then following and working towards my dreams is the only way to create extraordinary opportunities. Nothing makes me more special than you. At least by my standards, I don’t have loads of cash, a lucrative job, a stroke of genius, incredible looks, special abilities or achieved anything remarkable. I am by all accounts insipidly ordinary. And many people are. But I can choose to work hard and have an extraordinary life by living instead of simply existing. I can choose to achieve as many dreams I can conjure up in one life time. In chasing my dreams I’ll find that I am living and in truth it makes little difference if I achieve their full scope. From working in Japan to captaining my own starship, if I am willing to put in the effort, anything is possible. Easier said than done? Once more I’d like to refer to the introduction quote.
The governing laws of the universe all try to maintain a similar goal, whether it is direct or indirect, and that is cosmic balance. Being part of the cosmos I believe one should similarly try and maintain a balanced life. Turning your life into a constant fight against the elements, hardly sleeping and being unsure if you should be putting yourself through the whole ordeal wouldn’t mean that you are living either. If you never enjoy summiting your challenges and specifically the view when you do, then stop or find something else. If time is really precious to you then what would the point be in wasting your free time on something that you think you should do as opposed to something you really want to do. If you spend time unwisely, it won’t make a difference to me. The world won’t stop revolving. And the sun will continue burning beach lovers. You have all the time there is.
See also:
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day
