“Do not surrender your time in vain. Do not sell your strength at a paltry price. Do not give your sleep to those who turn it into gold. Reserve yourself as much as possible for joy. You have only one life, defend it.” These words served as a conclusion to a text on life, as gripping as an electric shock, delivered by the author Nicolas Matthieu for the audience of La Grande Librairie, feeding the inspiration for this post.
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Life is a complex fabric woven with unpredictability and uncertainty. Time, on the other hand, is a relentless and inflexible countdown. A ceaseless ticking that constricts us, a fatal clock that will one day stop abruptly, long before we quench our insatiable thirst for life. From the inevitable passage of time arises an urgent need: to embrace the vastness of the universe. A burning desire to immerse ourselves in it until we are satiated.
For time is no longer that of our twenties, that of a carefree youth nourished by a pseudo-immortality in which we firmly believed. The idea of an endless life, where aging seems unlikely, or at least far removed from our immediate concerns. But now our memories pile up and are measured in decades. What have we become, throughout all this time? Have we loved enough, been vibrant enough, given, received? Never enough! Especially not for those among us who thirst for infinity, those for whom growing up does not mean giving up the fervor of life or trading our childlike spirit for that of a placid adult.
These little sparks within us that only want to keep burning, we must cherish them as precious treasures. These bright flames are our guides, casting a soft light on our fate. Sometimes, they reappear at the end of a tunnel, after a long crossing of the desert, like a mirage that we had stopped believing in. It is enough to shake off the wear and tear, the friction of daily life and routine. Time is us. Handcrafted. Time is above all our story and what we have made of it. It can only betray us if we have mistreated it.
So what to say about the time that remains without falling into the bitterness of a sordid calculation? What is certain is that it is in this final sprint that the most daring impulses are found, finally freed from all constraints. The remaining time is letting go and a delightful drift towards the most beautiful shores, where our expectations and illusions will come to rest. But also, and above all, our satiated aspirations. For time urges us to be happy, whether it is for a day, a night, or the remainder of life. Like a dazzling firework, aflame in symbiosis with the universe for a moment that tastes like eternity. As for time, we will handle it… we will have fun making it both expandable and ephemeral, playful and solemn, precious and futile. From time to time. All the time.
What about Love with a capital L in all this? Love is proven and lived intensely. It is not a game of hide and seek nor a complex puzzle. Love, the true kind, dazzles with its burning light. Love is the opening of the heart to another soul, it is a journey to the unknown where one finds oneself as much as the other.
True Love, the one that transcends time and space, is as dazzling as the sun at its zenith, blinding in its intensity. It emits a light so powerful that it illuminates every corner of our being, revealing our fears, our hopes, our dreams, and our deepest truths. This light is not only dazzling, it is also warm, enveloping, and comforting. It illuminates our paths when everything seems dark, it guides us when we are lost, it warms us when the world seems cold. Love is the courage to show vulnerability, to take risks, to trust. It is resilience in the face of adversity, perseverance despite obstacles. Love is not a constraint, but a freedom. Because Love is life itself.
In our tireless quest for happiness, it is imperative to constantly remember that we are the true masters of our lives, that we hold the power to steer them according to our own desires and aspirations. Often, we find ourselves living for others, acting and reacting according to their expectations and judgments. This can make us lose sight of our own needs and desires and, ultimately, distance us from our true selves.
Reclaiming our lives implies a kind of healthy selfishness, one that allows us to take care of ourselves, to defend our own interests, to define and respect our own boundaries. Self-love is a necessity. Because we can only truly love others when we love ourselves. We can only truly care for others when we care for ourselves. We can only truly respect others when we respect ourselves.
Above all, it is giving ourselves permission to be ourselves, with all this implies. It’s the freedom to choose, the freedom to act, the freedom to be. And it is in this freedom that we can find our true happiness, our true peace, our true love. It is in this freedom that we can really live. Because we only have one life, and our first duty is to defend it…
