Many people are lamenting how quickly 2024 has passed, and sadly, 2025 will likely feel no different. Time will slip away, and before we know it, 2026 will be upon us — for those of us fortunate enough to live to see it. We will continue to complain about the disappearance of 2025, as if time has some obligation to slow down.

But those who complain about the swift passage of time are often the ones who have not made full use of it. Time isn’t measured by the ticking of a clock, but by the impact we make during its passing.

We wake up, rush to work, return home, and chase an hour of rest or the next adventure. The cycle repeats, and we wonder: why is time moving so fast? This kind of time is like a blur, passing unnoticed, like a background sound you don’t consciously hear. It’s a time without brakes, a time without meaning. When time moves on without stopping and passes by without leaving any real feelings or marks, how can we possibly sense or truly live in it? Benjamin Franklin once said, “Lost time is never found again.” Time is what we want most, and yet it’s what we squander most.

There is real time, and then there is spectral time. Sadly, most of us today live in spectral time. It’s the time that rushes past us like a fleeting stranger — someone we don’t truly know or remember, and we don’t stop to reflect on it. Spectral time is spent without reflection, lost in the noise of routine.

Real time, on the other hand, is that which knows us, lives within us, and we live in it. It’s the time we dedicate to learning something new, to pursuing virtue, to helping those in real need, or contributing to something that benefits others. It’s time spent valuing every moment, being present in it, and making it count. As Hasan Al-Basri wisely said: “Work as if you were leaving tomorrow.” A day well-spent becomes a day of giving, a year filled with sincerity, and a life lived meaningfully.

Today, too many people are preoccupied with personal glory or distracted by petty rivalries and conflicts. For them, the year slips by like a fantasy, devoid of any true blessings. In the pursuit of fleeting desires, they let time pass without ever really living it.

Many spend endless hours trying to preserve their health, to extend their lives, but in doing so, they forget to actually live those years. Their time is consumed by superficial concerns, while the years they are given are quietly slipping away.

Kudos to those whose year is filled with meaningful deeds — acts that make a real difference in the world, deeds that impact humanity. Congratulations to them for living a full life, for filling their time with purpose. Most importantly, congratulations to them for not allowing their years to pass like ghosts, unnoticed and unfelt.

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