We can never get enough.

From the moment the shrill shriek of an alarm clock cuts through our dreams to the second our head hits the pillow at the end of the day, we are all fighting for it. It being a spare hour, a sneaky minute, a stolen second.

You wake up with your To-Do List plastered to the back of your eyelids.

• Feed the cat
• Take the bins out

You consider your job –

• Feed the cat
• Take the bins out
• Finish the presentation for Monday
• Organise the office Secret Santa

Your study –

• Feed the cat
• Take the bins out
• Finish the presentation for Monday
• Organise the office Secret Santa
• Return library books
• Finish reading Chapter Nine for Ancient History

Your hobbies –

• Feed the cat
• Take the bins out
• Finish the presentation for Monday
• Organise the office Secret Santa
• Return library books
• Finish reading Chapter Nine for Ancient History
• Learn the new piece for the gig on Sunday
• Finish the painting for the gallery opening

And all that self-care stuff the internet thinks you need –

• Feed the cat
• Take the bins out
• Finish the presentation for Monday
• Organise the office Secret Santa
• Return library books
• Finish reading Chapter Nine for Ancient History
• Learn the new piece for the gig on Sunday
• Finish the painting for the gallery opening
• Meditate for 10 minutes
• Take a nap
• Get some exercise

And eventually your brain is just full.

Too many things on your plate. Too few hours in the day.

You rush through your tasks, squeezing everything you can out of every last second; your thoughts are a mess of static and your body is moving in a frenzy. Getting things done, making the most of the minutes – this, you think, is living.

But consider this.

Your life isn’t measured in things ticked off in one hour. Your life isn’t measured in minutes – its measured in moments. It’s measured in memories.

It shouldn’t matter how busy you are – make time for making memories. They’re what will be left with you in 50 years when the work presentation couldn’t matter less. Make time for yourself and others. Do some good.

The next person you see – give them a smile. A proper, I-can-see-you-how-are-you-today-smile.

Buy someone some flowers, just because. Pick them some flowers if you’re poor.

Blow some bubbles.

Speak to a baby.

Offer to help someone else, be it opening a door, carrying books, or spotting them $2 if they’re short at the checkout.

Life’s too short to be moving so fast. It often feels like with our limited days on the planet that we must squeeze every last activity and task into the precious few moments we have – but really we need to squeeze every last memory from our moments. Another smile with a loved one. Another sunset. Another breath of fresh air. Make the moments count, not because they were full of things you got done but because they were things you did well, with laughter and joy and learning.

And when next striving to fill every moment with doing, know that you don’t have to stop; you just have to slow down. Smell the roses. Live your life. Make some memories.

You won’t regret it.