I was recently offered an opportunity to take an internship in the field of work I am currently getting my Master’s in at a place I have always wanted to work with.  I don’t want to say it yet because the details haven’t worked themselves out yet so I don’t want to jinx it.

I got a call on Tuesday afternoon and picked up to hear that while I at first was planning on applying for a summer internship, I was asked if I had some availability for the spring.  After setting up an introduction meeting for next week, I looked back at my schedule to see how there was really no time for it, and if I made time for it a sacrifice would have to be made.

Long story short, between classes, my graduate assistantship and my part-time job, I am also taking a scriptwriting class and trying to get ready for a writing program I am interested in. So, my schedule is very tight.

I knew what my gut was telling me: this is too good of an opportunity to pass up.  When I got that phone call, I was so genuinely excited, which meant that this was very important to me.  It’s hard when life gets very busy that you can find genuine excitement and happiness rolled up into one emotion.  But this was it.

I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity, especially after I got some great advice from some great friends.  Whether it was a great economic breakdown of money now and money later–basically not taking the internship would mean I’m settling for money now, instead of an opportunity which can make me money later–or the simple line of ‘don’t let money stop you from doing anything,’ my friends reaffirmed what my gut had told me in the first place.

Money will always be a apart of our lives.  We need it to survive.  When we aren’t working for money, it seems that the rest of our time is spent spending that money.  It seems that money has crept into every inch of our lives.

But what I was able to take from this latest lesson in my life is that money cannot buy any of us time.  It can buy us our necessities and it can buy our extravagancies, but it cannot buy the one thing most precious in this world: simple minutes, hours, days, months, years–simply time.

I could pass on this opportunity and have a few extra bucks in my wallet and in the bank, but what I can miss out on is great experiences, with amazing people in extraordinary places and that is another thing money can’t buy.

For now, I will continue to do my best seizing every opportunity given to me and trying my best not to let dollar signs get in the way.  After all, you can’t take it with you, so why let it stop you from living your life right here, right now.