Timing is everything

I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying. There are numerous like it, emphasizing the importance of the correct time, place, and circumstances. 

A friend and I were once driving to a rest stop at three o’clock in the morning to get a road map for some sort of craft project. On the way there, our conversation got deep, as it normally does in the wee hours of the morning after not sleeping. We began talking about people falling in love and such. She said something that was both profound and astoundingly simple. 

“What if *insert name here* fell in love with you? And you just never loved him back? There would just be nothing either of you could do. You can’t force yourself to love him.”

That stirred up some thoughts in my own head. Nowadays, people get married, we congratulate them, and then move on with our lives. But we sometimes forget how amazing it actually can be. Out of all the people in the world, that husband or wife found someone who they think will complete their life, someone who is their other half. 

But think about this: what if that couple had never met? Summer from the movie “500 Days of Summer” illustrates this when speaking of her husband. “So, what if I'd gone to the movies? What if I had gone somewhere else for lunch? What if I'd gotten there 10 minutes later? It was - it was meant to be.” Since she decided to go to a specific place for lunch at a specific time, she met the man whom she would one day marry. Timing is everything.

The importance of timing can also be examined in a less pleasant way. Many times in stories, movies, and even in real life, people may blame themselves for something due to timing. The might think, “Maybe if I had left two minutes earlier, I wouldn’t have gotten in that accident,” or “If only I hadn’t decided to go to the mall that day, this (whatever that may be) wouldn’t be happening.” This is a much darker side. 

We stress so often the importance of time, be it arriving on time to events or not taking long to complete tasks. We forget that time is really not that important. We’ve simply made it seem important. We worry about doing things at the right time and in the right situation, that sometimes, we don’t see what really matters: actually doing what you are going to do or saying what you are going to say. 

So I suppose my point is this: timing is everything, but it doesn’t really matter.