Time as Currency: How Do You Spend Yours?

I arrived in Santiago de Compostela on September 18, 2024, my 51st birthday. This “coincidence” was neither planned nor expected. In fact, one of the intentions I set prior to starting my walk was to leave expectations behind and be open to how the journey might unfold.

One of the many gifts I received on the Camino was the gift of clarity about time. Prior to walking, I served as an active executive, community leader, friend, wife, and mom, who devoutly worshiped at the altar of busy-ness. I lived and died by my color-coded, stacked calendar that contained virtually zero white (blank) space. I hurried from one commitment to the next without being fully present for any of them. I proudly (and foolishly) wore my busy-ness as a badge of honor. After all, I had important things to do, places to be, and people to see—all of it whizzing by in a harried blur!

The funny thing about marking time like this is that it wasn’t flying by because I was having fun (though I often was). Time was flying by because I haplessly scheduled it away without sincerely paying attention to how I spent it. Time is our most precious resource. It is the only thing in life that is literally impossible to generate more of. There are countless wise quotes on spending time, but most simply put, time is our most valuable currency (incomparably so), and not one of us can count exactly how much we will possess. For every minute we spend on an activity, we are giving up something else. 

Still embarking on “the real Camino” of life, I serve in the same roles as before, but now I practice living while using the gifts of clarity I received on the Way: 

• Every day is a complete journey.
• Regard the present without fear of the past or expectation of the future. (Borrowed from Camino graffiti wisdom.) 
• Don’t quit before the miracle happens. (More Camino graffiti wisdom.) 
• If it’s not a “hell yes,” it’s a “hell no.”

I keep these reminders on my phone home screen and at the top of each day on my calendar. I share them with friends and family to help hold me accountable. I now give reverence to the blank spaces on my calendar and use them as time to breathe, time to think, time to recover, time to embrace the unexpected, time for unplanned adventures, time to go for a walk.