Time is a Tool

I saw on Instagram this post that said: 10 luxuries in life. 

1. Time
2. Health
3. Security
4. Good sleep
5. Inner peace
6. Financial stability
7. Unconditional love
8. Being able to travel
9. The freedom of choice
10. Meaningful connections 

As much as I already believe and agree that the above things definitely add loads of luxury to your life, there was one thing which stood out to me and instantly made me reflect on my own life.

Time. Having time – time to do whatever you feel called to do. Time to achieve whatever you want to achieve. Time to spend with the people you want to spend it with. Time to travel, eat, sleep, dance, meditate, chill, study, pray, adventure, entertain, inspire. Time to do nothing, time to do it all at once. TIME! I never really thought about it, but having time is truly the biggest luxury of life. And when I look back at my journey, I have had many seasons where time was my biggest, in fact, my only luxury in life. Whenever I was in between jobs (almost never by choice), I sometimes had no daily activities to attend, so I had time to decide how I wanted to use my free time. Or some days, whenever I did work, I sometimes still was so low on money, which made it impossible to, in my free time, do a lot of things which included a price tag. Because of this, time was something which I had more often than the ordinary 9-5 working person. This created a lot of extra time, where I chose to use my time efficiently while choosing to invest in myself, my craft, my connections and my career.

Whenever I did go on tour or performed in different theaters around the world, I often wouldn’t have to work until the evening, so all day I had time, for example, to work out or read to keep my body fit and my mind stimulated. There was time to go out and explore to get to know new cultures, religions and people. I also had more free time to choose to hang out with friends and therefore had a lot more time to adventure together. I really had a lot of opportunities (read: intentionally chose to create these opportunities through deciding to see time as a tool) to explore, expand, (self)-reflect and connect.

Whenever I had to fly to a wedding celebration abroad but money wasn’t there… No worries, ’cause I got time! Therefore, suddenly, the bus, train or car became an option too. I may not have been able to buy a direct return flight to the wedding, but because I had the option to use my luxury tool: time, I was able to book cheaper flights with layovers or use other transport which took me 36 hours instead of 8 hours to get there. But, you know what, I HAD TIME – so as long as I had time, I was able to still make my desires happen.  

I remember about a decade ago I was heartbroken and could barely function. I didn’t eat, didn’t have any energy and could barely get myself out of bed. Because I was in between jobs, within that moment, I made myself every morning get up and do yoga. The yoga helped me heal. And even though there were many days when after yoga I went straight back to bed, I couldn’t stop but think how grateful I was to be jobless (not by choice) in that moment. I didn’t have any money in the bank, but all I wanted was to be able to just listen to my body anyway, and all my body wanted was yoga and then straight back to bed. Thanks to time, my healing journey became powerful, intense and smooth. The freedom of this time became my tool and made me heal. I had time to listen to myself, to do what I feel, to be what I am, to embrace who I am and to surrender fully by legitimately letting time heal my wounds.

Another example is when I didn’t yet have a visa to be able to work in the USA, and trying to get it would firstly take me a lot of time to even figure out the process – hell, to first learn English and then figure out how the visa application even works… to then build a case, together with trying for the longest to create a network within this new continent where I had never been before. But, guess what? I had time (read: I chose to give myself time). It may have taken me 2 years before I got my visa, but I had time to figure it out and find people who would be able to help me get one step forward on my journey. 

During the pandemic, I lost my job as a dancer while on tour, which created an opportunity for me to finally have time to write my own book. Eventually, I had even more time to study and become a board-certified life coach, which led to having even more time (those lockdowns were no joke) to learn how to build my own website, to then create and build my own online platform. Thanks to that time, you’re even able to read this blog right within this moment. 

As you can imagine, I often had way more time than money. I’ve never had a lot of financial stability or security during this dance career of mine, but if there’s one amazing thing this career path has given me, it definitely is the gift of time. Only recently, I realized how blessed I am to have had all this time to explore, grow, expand, evolve, connect and invest in myself and those around me. How did I not think of this sooner? How did I not realize yet that time is actually a major luxury tool! Time became my freedom, time became my growth, time has been my biggest tool for healing, my greatest tool for building my own business, and time also gave me the amazing opportunity to see the world. And, to top it off, time is my favorite way to invest and spend while I connect with the people I care for.

You will realize soon enough that time and money are both very important tools to have whenever you want to make simply anything happen in life. This taught me that whenever you don’t have one, you should truly aim to have at least the other. These past 15 years, time has 99 percent of the time been my ‘choice’ over money. Of course, there have been many times I preferred it to be the other way around, but unfortunately, money wasn’t often an option to be used as a tool as long as I kept choosing this path of life. (Still very confused why dancers are so majorly underpaid, but this is a sensitive topic for another time, haha).

Nevertheless, this never stopped me from getting or going anywhere I desired to be. I may not have been able to buy my dream house yet with the tool of time, but I definitely was able to gain all my knowledge, experiences, lessons, wisdom and connections. They then led to the opportunity to now use all this knowledge while building my own products and celebrating the start of this new chapter of my life. Now these products create the opportunities to gravitate more financial stability into my life and therefore the option to eventually buy my dream house. And this all because I used my luxury tool: time, when I didn’t have money. I really feel so grateful for having had so many opportunities to use the tool of time to get me to where I am and who I am today.

I feel like time is so easy to take for granted, which is why learning to spend your time wisely should truly be your main goal (or affirmation) for each day. Time is one of the most valuable tools you have in your lifetime. Time is so precious, as it won’t ever come back once it is spent. This is why I will forever remind you to stay present and within the moment. Money, once spent, can always come back, but time can only be spent in one way, within one moment, within one circle. It can simply be used only once. Time is truly so special and one of the most powerful luxury tools to have. I kindly recommend you to use it wisely.

With intention, wisdom and love.

Homework of the month: go over the luxury tool list above and write on paper how you could improve the use of each tool (1-10) in your life, within the upcoming year. What can you do to create, attract and manifest more of these 10 luxury tools in your life? Then to finish it off, write your overall intention for the year.

This new year is truly a new chapter, a new opportunity, a new chance to improve and better ourselves and our lives. I truly wish you all a year of alignment, and hope all your bravest wishes come through.

Happy New Year!

Want to commit a little more? I got you!

Check out my blog post: https://www.solangezindzi.com/blog/solo-jump-into-your-goals

and read how you can write out your goals for 2024 too.