Let’s be honest: time has stolen quite a bit, and these are all intangible assets that can’t be ordered online. My waistline, for one. The ability to get up from a chair without making sound effects, and let’s not even talk about how the font on medicine bottles seems to shrink every year. On the other hand, no matter how hard life likes to throw punches, there are some things time simply cannot steal, and they’ve become even sharper with age (like my side-eye when someone tells me I should be “slowing down”).
Curiosity – Even after five decades (and then some), I still ask questions that drive younger people nuts. “Why is it called fast food if it takes 20 minutes in the drive-thru?” “Why are we paying fees for paying bills online?” My curiosity has kept me young, open, and occasionally in trouble for researching online or binge-watching way past 02:00.
Perseverance – You don’t make it past 50 without a healthy dose of grit. We’ve weathered breakups, job losses, scams, financial rollercoasters, raising children and pets, and still managed to show up, albeit sometimes with a smile, sometimes just with strong coffee. Time can slow me down, but it can’t keep me from pushing forward.
Talent – Whether it’s cooking, fixing things around the house, writing, photography, or making the perfect sarcastic remark at just the right moment, talent doesn’t fade. Sure, maybe I am not musically inclined, but I celebrate my own symphonies with style. Time may soften the edges, but it polishes the soul.
Kindness – The world can try to harden you, but kindness sticks, and this is what other remember. If anything, life has taught me that patience and compassion are worth far more than being right. Mistakes (and I’ve made a collection big enough to fill a library) showed me that kindness matters more than solutions.
Faith – Faith has been my anchor when everything else felt unsteady. Call it spiritual, call it hopeful, call it stubborn optimism, but it’s what carried me through the storms. Time may test it, but it can never steal it.
Resilience – Oh, my best friend resilience. If I had a dollar for every time I thought I was down for the count, only to get back up again, I’d have retired in my 40s. Life knocks you down, but resilience says, “Nice try, life. Watch me get up, brush off, and keep going.”
Sense of Humour – the crown jewel. Time can take my memory, my youth, and my ability to digest spicy food, but it cannot touch my ability to laugh at myself. In fact, after all the mistakes and misadventures. Humour is my superpower because if you can’t laugh when you find your glasses on top of your head after a 20-minute search, what’s the point?
So yes, time has stolen a lot of things but curiosity, perseverance, talent, kindness, faith, resilience, and humour are mine for keeps and at this stage in life, that feels like winning the jackpot.
FrogDiva Thoughts 