(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Mohamad Kadry on why we should learn to value time and to whom we give it
Why is that people living in the same city - even the same neighbourhood – find it so difficult to make time to connect
A locally-based friend recently revealed to me that after one of her childhood mates from Egypt moved to Dubai she actually saw less of her than she did during her bi-annual visits back home. How in the world does this make sense
The fast-paced nature of this city often has a detrimental effect on our social priorities. Sometimes it forces families to schedule allotted quality time together and encourages everyone else to simply take each other for granted. This lax behaviour begs the question: Who is really worth our time
Step back into the nostalgic days before technology consumed our lives and the undeniable fact is that we saw each other more. There were unexpected knocks on the door that brought uninvited guests but I doubt very much we ever complained about it then. Spending time together was often random and unplanned and that’s what made it memorable.
I’m guilty of neglect just as much as the next person but I’m also very conscious that it’s happening. My best friend lives a few buildings over from mine in Jumeirah Lakes Tower and I haven’t seen him since June. We still text constantly in between failed attempts to meet and I’m perfectly aware that there’s no excuse that should prevent two people living within minutes of each other from meeting more often.
Of course there are simple solutions that most of us won’t heed because we’re busy people living busy lives (yawn). We spend most of our lives working and sleeping taking care of our children and focusing on our significant others. But what if we learned to better prioritise our time so that the people we most value in our lives are more present and less absent
It’s not fair to generalise everyone’s particular mode of operation but it’s safe to say that we could all do with a bit of improvement in the matter. I’ll start by meeting my best mate this weekend – regardless of where and when – because if you want to keep the right people in your life you have to take that notion literally.