"Time is How You Spend Your Love"
- Ruth Schalkhauser Tower
- Jul 29, 2020
- 2 min read
I saw this quote by author Zadie Smith that made me pause, for a long time:
"Time is how you spend your love."

What if the 24 hours in a day were actually opportunities to spend my love? That for all the time I spend to care for my body and mind, for the time I give caring for my family on a daily basis, for the people I get to connect with and impact through my work (like even writing this newsletter), each of those is an expenditure of love? Yes, that feels true. It feels true for those times when I've done those things out of love and for the desire to serve. But what about the times I've done those things grudgingly? Or for the mindless time I spend scrolling through social media or playing a game on my phone? What about the time spent feeling anxious or frustrated, or ruminating over that same scenario for the 100th time? And I'll also throw into this mix all the time recently I've spent listening to the Hamilton soundtrack or watching it again (for the 4th time). I like to think that I spend my love on the things I care about, the things that are important and matter. But as the quote suggests, how I spend my time is how I spend my love. I think a recalibration is needed. Because each of us is given the gift of time every day. What better way to spend that time than doing something out of love? And each action has the opportunity to become that, if we set that as our foundation. But it's not just that time is precious, so is my love (even though it is abundant). I don't want to mindlessly spend my love; something so beautiful should be treated with respect. There might be some things that don't make the cut. There might be some things that I spend less time on. Or maybe the adjustment is how I approach it. I can spend my love on working through my deep emotions. I can spend my love by doing and watching the things I love (yeah, more Hamilton! just kidding, or not...) The point is to become more conscious of how we spend our love through how we spend our time. What does this mean for you? I'd love to hear if you're willing to share. How will you use time to spend your love?
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