This is a story I wrote years ago about not taking action on the things that matter to us, thinking we have time. I find the core message very relevant to me now as I contemplate new decisions that impact both my career and my personal life. I hope it resonates with you too.

Happy reading!

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It’s 8:10 pm in New York City, and Christmas is only three weeks away. It has been years since the city had such a cold winter. Who would have thought that the sky would snow as early as November? Yet still, it happened, and the snow shows every single day, like clockwork.

Derek has been working on his computer for 5 hours now. He reaches for his coffee and takes a little sip, only to jump in disgust! The coffee is too cold and distasteful. He looks at the time; “Oh shit! I’m going to be late again!” He is supposed to meet his girlfriend Vanessa for her birthday tonight at 8. Derek picks up the phone, calls his girlfriend to tell her he’ll be late, but she doesn’t answer. “Damn it! She must’ve arrived and is mad as hell!”

He runs as fast as he can to catch the next bus, but the bus drives off right in front of his eyes. The next bus is in 15 minutes; it’s already 8:20. He picks up his phone to apologize. There’s a message from Vanessa: “don’t bother coming, I just left!”

It’s not the first time he stands her up. In fact, this curse has been haunting him for so long causing him to lose many once close friends. 

As he walks back to his apartment, he spots a large snowman on the sidewalk at the corner of the street. “Strange! Where did this snowman come from? I didn’t see it on my way here!”

He dismisses the thought and continues walking. As he passes the snowman by, he hears a voice: “Wait Derek, I have something for you.” Startled, Derek looks around him but sees no one. “Did I just hear my name?!”, he thought to himself.

“Yes, it’s me, the snowman.”

Derek screams: “What the…!” and stares at the snowman with eyes wide open in shock.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s strange, I know, but I was sent to offer you something.”

“Sent?! Sent by whom?!”, Derek asks in bewilderment. “That’s not important,” says the snowman, “what’s important is what I’m here for.”

A quiet pause follows. Derek is still in shock.

“Now, do you want to hear the offer or not? I have another appointment in Sweden in ten minutes,” says the snowman.

“Eh… yes, I guess,” answers Derek hesitantly.

“We want to give you a superpower, but it’s conditional, if you choose to accept it,” says the snowman.

“A superpower! Uhm.. what kind of superpower?” asks Derek. “The ability to freeze time.” “What!” Derek reacts in surprise. “And what’s the condition?”

“The condition is, Derek, that you have to learn to appreciate time using this power, otherwise it will backfire.”

“Do you choose to accept it?” asks the snowman hurriedly after a quick glance at the sky, as if checking some invisible clock between the clouds.

“Yes, yes! It’s the thing I need the most!” says Derek. “Ok, good, all you have to do is clap once and time will freeze, clap again and it moves on,” says the snowman and starts walking away.

He then turns back to Derek and says: “Oh by the way, you’ll have it only until midnight New Year’s Eve. Remember! If you waste it, it will backfire.”

The snowman then disappears in the falling snow.

Next morning…

It’s 10:14am on a Saturday.

Derek gets up, rubs his face and looks outside the window. The snow covering the city sends a bright white light right into his eyes. The memory of what happened yestreday crystalises slowly in his memory.

He thinks of Vanessa and decides to buy flowers and visit to apologize in person. “Vanessa has a soft heart, she knows it’s my curse.”

Derek walks out the florist’s door with a bouquet of snowwhite lilies in his hand and looks at his watch. “Damn it! Vanessa has a Yoga class at 11!”

Right there, he remembers his superpower and decides to use it.

He claps once, and everything around him freezes. He looks at the second hand on his watch, it’s not moving! In fact, nothing around him is moving!

“Breathe, Derek, breathe,” he thinks to himself.

Walking to Vanessa’s house, his eyes wander, astonished by what he sees. At her apartment door, he claps again, and everything moves as if nothing happened.

Derek rings the doorbell and Vanessa opens. He was right, she forgives him. Later that night, as he prepares for sleep, he thinks to himself, “I got away with it this time, I need to keep track of time on my own.”

As he rushes to work the next day, he notices that he’ll be late for work, as usual, and won’t be able to submit his report before the deadline.

“Not again!” his covers his face in disappointment.

“What the hell! I have a superpower now, and I intend to make the best of it!”

He claps once, everything freezes even the falling snow! He takes his time, gets into the company coffee shop, prepares himself a coffee, gets to his desk and starts working.

After the final edits, he clapped again, and there he was, on time and ready to hand in his report.

One day to Christmas Eve

By now, Derek has abused his superpower for even the silliest of reasons, like making sure he doesn’t skip a second of his favorite TV show, while he fetches some water from the kitchen.

His life improved, though. He got back with some old friends, got a bonus at work for his punctuality, his relationship with Vanessa has never been better, and he is about to surprise his family on Christmas by being on time for once!

Too lazy to wake up after partying all night yesterday, he claps once to freeze time to catch some more sleep.

Later in the afternoon, he realizes he needs to take the 5:15pm train if he wants to arrive on time at his family’s house. At the station, it’s only one minute before the train leaves. He claps once, gets some snacks and a newspaper from the station’s kiosk, gets on the train, and claps again. 

The atmosphere at his family’s house is buzzing with Christmas joy.

His mom is especially happy to have everyone gather around the dinner table on time without having to wait for Derek. She looks at him with pride. His improved life was the topic of the evening, and he enjoyed the attention. 

New Year’s proposal

Derek is very excited today, as he plans to propose to Vanessa under snowfall in Times Square right when the clock strikes 12.

He is on time to meet her, after he used his superpower at least five times.

Despite the cold, they stay all night, hug, dance and celebrate with the cheerful crowd.

Three seconds before midnight, Derek gets on one knee…

The crowd shouts: “THREE… TWO… ONE… HAPPY NEW YE…” suddenly their voices fade away, everything turns black as if time itself were being pulled back.

Derek opens his eyes seconds later. He is in front of his computer at home; he looks at the time, it’s 8:10 pm in NewYork City, and Christmas is three weeks away.

The snowman’s words echo faintly in his mind: “If you waste it, it will backfire.”Derek freezes. He understands.

Time waited for no one — not even him.