Time is the Most Valuable Currency

By Joe Marzo

The Lesson

Time is the most valuable currency we have, and yet it’s the one we treat most carelessly. Money can be earned again. Possessions can be replaced. Even health, sometimes, can be restored. But time — once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

The way you spend your hours is the truest reflection of what you value. You can say family comes first, but if your schedule never leaves room for them, the truth is already written. You can say your health matters, but if you never carve out time to care for it, your choices speak louder.

Most people live as if time is limitless, as if there will always be another tomorrow. But the clock never stops. 

Dont waste your time, spend it wisely. What makes time so precious is that none of us know how much of it we’ve been given. In terms of currency, we don’t know when the wallet runs dry. That uncertainty is what makes every moment priceless.

My Story

Leukemia forced me to learn this lesson the hard way. Before my diagnosis, I thought I had decades of time stretched out ahead of me. I worked, I coached, and I still find myself giving away pieces of myself to obligations that don’t always deserve them. I used to think there would always be more time — more time for my kids, for myself, for the things that mattered.

Then came the diagnosis. Suddenly the future wasn’t a wide open road anymore. It was narrowed down to treatments, hospital stays, and questions with no certain answers. Every day I wake up, I am aware of the clock in a way I never was before. 

Small things — a conversation with my childen, sitting with someone I love, a day that is pain free; all feel like a valuable gift.

Leukemia stripped away the illusion of endless tomorrows and forced me to spend my hours with more care. I don’t always have the energy or the strength to do everything I want, but I’ve learned to be deliberate with the time I do have.

Time, I’ve come to see, really is the only true currency of life. And every day I get is a chance to spend it more wisely than the day before.

Closing Quote

“Lost time is never found again.” 

— Benjamin Franklin