Not everything is linear.

Time. We think about it linearly, imagining that it operates through cause and effect. That it is merely a Domino effect, one thing leading into the other, slowly building momentum. We look back on it and decide our memories. Our memories that are never genuinely stagnant or real.

I mean, we remember what happened, for the most part. But on each remembering, the drama plays out slightly different. On each reliving, we have changed since the last, so then our understanding changes with it.

Imagine if we were outside of time, though. Imagine that instead of being the one traveling through time and space, you are an outsider looking in. You are perched in front of a T.V. screen that displays your life, flipping back and forth through the years. In this scene, you are a 23-year-old writing blog posts at 3 in the morning, falling over from exhaustion, alone and devoid of love. In the next, you are standing around your father’s burial, holding your sister while your mother cries, trying to work out how to explain this to your son. And then you are five years old watching that same father teach you to ride a bike, the joy, and delight written across your face as you soar down the street in your brand new, mini BMX bike.

Imagine these things next time you get upset or have a mishap. Recall them the next time your family fights, and you wish that they could just go away. Remember that every breath is a gift; there are no second chances, and you’ll never be able to relive this moment.