Reflections — Angela Jeffcott

What is a small moment? It might be a small amount of time. It might be something ordinary. It might seem inconsequential. But all these small things add up to memories, decisions, moments that change.

Most of our lives are these kinds of moments. Slices of time between the “important” things of meetings, appointments, and scheduled activities, and the exciting times, like vacation and holidays. Small moments are rarely planned but the time is no less valuable. Maybe it is more valuable because anything can happen.

When people ask me how I read so much, I answer simply, “I always have a book on hand and 95% of my free time, I reach for it.” Someone once joked that I cook while I read. With a straight face, I replied, “Well, yes, because it’s easy to stir soup while holding a book.” We really have no excuse for not using the “wasted” parts of our day.

But it’s so hard to use them wisely! I’m not perfect at this and there are days watching Reels on Instagram is more fun than spending my moments in guilt free pursuits. But the option is there. I make it as easy as I can to prep for decision making. My hand embroidery I’m working on, materials for watercolor or sketching, photos downloaded to Shutterfly for a project, my journal and book at the ready. I know it’s easier to sit and scroll so I put other options at the ready and make them just as easy to reach for.

And sometimes in our small moments, we need to sit, fingers not busy, gazing out a window or singing along to music. Productivity doesn’t equal having a physical item to show for it. Sometimes it’s the memories made and the time spent together.

Small moments fill our days. What we do with them is our decision.

Photo by Ethereal Optics on Unsplash

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, right? So why does it seem like some people get so much more out of those 24 hours?

I have recently been asking myself this question and I came to the realization that a lot of it comes down to the little moments. It’s the five minutes waiting here, the few minutes between these tasks. It adds up to 30 minutes, an hour of wasted time that seemed inconsequential.

It was in those small moments that I reached for my phone. I didn’t need to search or scroll or browse but I thought the time didn’t allow for anything else. I didn’t want to idly stand by and wait so surely jumping on my phone for a game or two would be more beneficial. That wasn’t wasted time, was it?

But I quickly discovered that I would rarely be on my phone for the exact amount of time I had to “waste.” Browsing Amazon for one thing would usually lead to another and then another, maybe a completely different website. And suddenly, my ten minutes of time needing to be filled stretched into 30 minutes of time I needed to spend on something else!

I started writing down things that I could accomplish in these little moments. Some of them were creative and fun, others were necessary. But having a list of ideas to turn to has greatly helped me make better use of my time. Here are some ideas for those small moments without reaching for your phone:

Read a magazine article or chapter from a book
Clean mirrors in the bathrooms
Choose one room to dust
Walk around the block or your yard
Write down meal ideas for planning
Put in a load of laundry
Write a note

This is not an exhaustive list. Think of the things you need or want to get done and evaluate if you could conquer some of them in those little catches of time. Leave the list where you will see if often and start redeeming those small moments.

Photo by Ales Krivec on Unsplash