I planned to go for a ride last night after checking the weather, (Denver had the highest December temperature in 86 years). After we walked the dogs this morning, it was already incredibly beautiful, so I didn’t waste time eating breakfast. I packed a couple slices of buttered sourdough, a big chunk of Parmesan cheese, a beef stick, and a protein bar and hit the road.
The breeze was already up to wind turbine speed and increasing. It was coming from the southeast, so I headed that direction toward some countryside I haven’t visited in a few months. After a dozen miles into the strengthening headwind, I was hungry and looked for a place to relax and enjoy my breakfast. I came upon a field road that looked promising, so I downshifted and bounced down the path for a mile to the end of the trail.
There was a round bale to lean “Trucker” against that would also provide some back support. The problem was that the breeze was from the south, the same direction as the sun, so when I took shelter on the lee side to stay out of the wind, I also stayed out of the sun, which was slightly uncomfortable. As I sat eating my breakfast, I considered my relationship to energy and time.
No Time To Waste
I thought about my last ride to the grassy hilltop north of town. During that ride, I pondered the paradox of aging and wisdom, as I counted my blessings. As I sat this morning, savoring the sourdough and cheese, I ruminated on the “no time to waste” concept of a few days ago. I have no control over time; only how I use it. Minutes turn into hours, days, weeks, months, and years. I have no clue what the sum of my life will be, but I do have an idea of what that time should look like.
“When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It’s very simple.” — Paulo Coelho
Time is fixed and linear. You can’t create more of it; you can only allocate it. It’s a non-renewable resource. Energy, on the other hand, is renewable and varies. You can produce more or less of it based on your choices. It’s the currency that affects whether time feels abundant or wasted. Both time and energy are limited, but they are not the same. For most of us, energy naturally decreases with age, regardless of how well we take care of ourselves.
Compound Interest
It’s essential to protect and nurture energy through routines like sleep, nutrition, exercise, relationships, and stress management. When energy is high and well-managed, time feels limitless, but it cannot be negotiated; energy can be. Time is the bank account, and energy is the interest. You can’t increase the principal (time), but you can increase the interest rate (energy), then the principal accrues more value. We don’t control how much time we get, but we can control how much life we extract from the time we have.
Life is energy. Protect it. Invest it. Multiply it. The key is to maximize your energy rather than manage your time. Energy increases the quality of your time. Investing your time wisely into energy-building habits creates a cumulative effect: you gain more quality time. Conversely, misspending time on energy-draining activities (chronic stress, toxic relationships, junk food, and doom-scrolling) leads to a deficit.
Exploring the High Plains dirt roads on the bike charges my battery. It fills me with positive energy and enthusiasm that I share with friends and family. It’s an investment. It takes a significant amount of energy; I often expend an entire days worth of calories in a few hours, but the interest I earn provides richness to my life. Biking is just one possibility to procure positive energy. Find what fuels your enthusiasm, and the positive energy will flow.
