Daddy’s or Grandma’s Time Recipe

Nowadays, when we all seem to be in some kind of a rush and trying to catch more of that strange thing called time, we often lose track of it, moreover, of ourselves. Wise man once said, “The man who can manage his time, can manage anything”. Hmmm, does this refer to mums and dads? My wife would say: Yes of course, with good organisation of your time you can do everything. Those who know her, also know that I am in great shape, but I am still breaking my back!

The truth is, when we take a step back, time is the same for all of us, no matter what jobs we do or who we are, whether we are mums or dads. Each day we have the same chances, because we all have those 24 hours at our disposal, 168 hours a week, 8760 hours a year. Out of which, most of us spends 8 at work, on average 45 hours a week.

And if I were to ask you, have you had any chances lately to go for a swim, together with your child? You would probably have a laugh and roll your eyes on me: Hm, look at this optimistic fellow…

However, what about that bit of time we have when we are not working or sleeping? Most of you would probably go along the lines of: I am acting as a private chauffer to my children, waiting for the bus for an hour, cooking dinner, clean the house, fixing my car, taking a medicine to my sick aunt, etc. Yeah, I get it. To make things even worse, the mathematicians have calculated that in the lifespan of 57 years we have roughly around 500 thousand hours at our disposal. This information makes me cringe, and I can’t help but wonder, where has all that time gone?

I do believe, though, that half a million hours is more than enough to make a change, isn’t it? It is up to us how we are to use them.

The trick to achieve what we want is not to always finish what we do, but to do what is currently relevant! Yes, but how do I squeeze in more time for swimming? My advice would be to cut down on those time leeches that are constantly teasing us. Start with the general social media addiction, mobile games, pointless TV series, etc. You see, the math is rather simple, if you managed to succumb to these at least ten times a day, you would lose two and a half hours of your free time. Those two hours a day are enough for almost everything!

Reflect on this, and maybe it is today when you should enrol your child in a swimming class or invite your friend to join you not for coffee in your favourite café, but on your way to the swimming pool.

As in your everyday life, time is very important in swimming. It defines how much of ourselves we have invested in it, how many hours, minutes we spent swimming. Believe it or not, but a blink of an eye faster is better, than the other time.

Therefore, there is no magical daddy’s or granny’s time recipe, because each of us should have an individual approach to it. The only catch is that some are better at using it than the others.