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The cost of a successful career? Time spent with my family

The impermanence of Japan’s cherry blossoms stirred an unexpected realisation: Time is a currency you can never earn back.

As our careers progress, children grow and parents age, we can fall into the illusion that there will always be more time later, says the writer.

Fallen cherry blossom petals on the Chidorigafuchi moat in Tokyo on April 6. The Japanese idea of mono no aware – the gentle sadness that accompanies the passing of things – reflects an awareness that life becomes more precious precisely because it does not last.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Jeffery Tan

Watching the cherry blossoms in Japan this spring stirred an unexpected sense of regret. The blossoms were stunning, but what struck me most was not their beauty but their brevity.

Within days, the petals that had drawn crowds from around the world began falling quietly to the ground. Their splendour was inseparable from their impermanence.

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