Like Sands Through the Hourglass: The Existential Truth About Time & Transformation
The Fleeting Nature of Time - And Why We Try to Ignore It
"…so are the days of our lives."
Those words, now infamous from the soap opera I wasn’t allowed to watch but snuck anyway, are forever embedded in my brain. I’m pretty sure I came right out of the womb with a healthy dose of existential dread.
Impermanence is a fact of life. At least, this 3D reality of being “human” at this particular moment in time.
The smarter ones among us learn to use their awareness of time as fuel, while others either remain woefully blind to it or become neurotically anxious about it slipping away. Either way, the result is often the same—stagnation and a lack of peace.
We all die eventually. The question is, what are we going to do with the life we have in the meantime?
The Hidden Cost of Resisting Change
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
—Mary Oliver
Some people spend their whole lives waiting for the "right time" to start truly living.
Others distract themselves with busyness, achievements, or routines that feel safe.
Most never stop to ask themselves: If time wasn’t holding me back, what would I do differently?
There’s a beautifully poignant tension balanced between BEing and BeCOMING.
To allow ourselves the opportunity to deeply savor where we are right now (always in the eternal now), while also reaching for the next iteration of who we wish to become.
It’s a both/and.
But many get stuck in either clinging to the past or fearing the future.
And that’s where existential therapy comes in.
Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931
Honoring the Chapters That End
I recently watched both my daughters graduate—one from college, the other from high school. By the end of the year, they’ll both be gone.
I will be an empty nester.
One moment, I’m thrilled to be stepping into a phase of radical freedom where my life is fully my own again.
The next, I’m grieving the end of their childhood and the role I’ve played in it.
This transition is inevitable. But avoiding it won’t make it hurt less.
Years ago, when I was training to become a therapist, my professor taught me something that stuck:
“YOU MUST honor the end of things. No matter how much your psyche tries to justify that you will ‘see each other again,’ you must acknowledge loss. This is the human condition. Even if you have more time, this moment—this exact space—will never exist again.”
That lesson wrecked me in the best way possible. Because it forced me to stop dodging the truth of impermanence and start honoring my own endings.
So I won’t deny the closing of this chapter. I will stand in it fully. Because as the Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said:
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man."
How to Embrace Both Being & Becoming
Wherever you find yourself in life today, I hope you find:
✅ Deep satisfaction in your BeING (the life you have now, as it is).
✅ Great hope for who you’re BeCOMING (the life you are building).
✅ The courage to let go of what’s ending—so you can fully step into what’s next.
If time, change, and the uncertainty of transitions have been weighing on you, existential therapy might be exactly what you need.
Because life doesn’t wait for you to be ready.
And one day, the clock will run out.
Time Won’t Wait, and Neither Should You.
If you’re ready to break free from fear and step into your power, book a session here.
Let’s get to work.
