Use It Or Lose It

Either you invest time in improving a skill, or you let it decay.
Both are valid choices, depending on your priorities, just try to make it a conscious choice.

INTRO

A sentence I first heard from @lior_vardi, while doing martial arts training at @wuwei_holon .
The core message of this sentence, in my experience, is - for most of the abilities you currently have: 1/ either you invest time in improving them , or 2/ let them decay.

Riding a bicycle might be an exception.
But there are plenty examples that do follow this rule.

One of them is the low squat position.
Most of us in the western world stopped naturally sitting in this position.
Now we are paying the price of having to tenaciously practice it, if we want to regain some of that mobility.

Me trying to squat as low as possible (without falling)...

You can apply this idea to many areas of life that include cultivating physical abilities, like martial arts, or squatting.

LET'S GO FULL META

You can even apply this concept to time itself!
Time keeps flowing, there is no option to lock it in place.
You either use it, or you lose it.

It's not only abilities and skills that you are choosing (consciously or unconsciously) to use or lose, it's also your time here, as a conscious being.

Time that you can maybe spend with your family, instead of working into the night.
Time that you can spend moving your body, instead of watching the 5th episode in a row.
Time that you can spend on growing, instead of sinking in past mistakes.
Time that you can spend being aware, instead of dreaming awake.

There will never be a perfect time... so stop wasting time by waiting for it.

TAKEAWAYS

We are all performing this balancing act, between using and losing.
I hope this sentence (and the design, see gallery) will remind me and you, to be more conscious of this balance, so that we can make better choices for present and future ourselves.