My little one is getting to the point where she babbles non-stop, and I’m so here for it. But if I’m being honest, it’s a little bittersweet. She’s not even one yet, and I’m already feeling the heavy realization that my time with her is short. She is growing so fast, and I have to be okay with that.

I know we’re just getting started. I know I have years ahead before I have to let her go. I just don’t want to miss a thing. The funny thing is, I never would have thought like this before she was born.

I’ve goofed off and wasted my fair share of time. Spent too long at dead-end jobs. Wasted time in the wrong relationships. Chased after the wrong career. Looking back, it’s easy to see all the moments where I did not make good use of the time I had.

It’s easy when we’re young.

“I’m only twenty. I’ve got plenty of time to get my life together.”

How naïve.

Of course, I speak from experience. I was the embodiment of that naïveté. Headstrong. Overconfident. Ever the optimist that I was getting everything out of life that I was meant to. At least that was my perspective.

And I was that optimist. Nothing phased me. Nothing could dampen my spirits. “It is what it is” was my unofficial motto. I was utterly unperturbed.

Maybe that’s where my daughter gets it from.

But that mentality only works for men who have no one relying on them. Men who have nothing to live for.

When I married my wife, I couldn’t keep that “Que será, será” mindset. I am the man. I have to provide for her, even if to a lesser degree. She’s not an infant, but you can tell the caliber of a man by how he takes care of his wife. And part of that care is time.

I went from giving no thought to what shift I worked to suddenly demanding a normal day shift. Even if it cost me a quarter an hour less. I was still fine with working overtime, but now I wanted to make sure my weekends were free.

Now that the baby is here, I don’t want to waste a moment. I base everything on how it will affect my time with my family. I don’t care about climbing the ladder. Climbing the rungs won’t bring me closer to my daughter. My singular career goal isn’t a corner office but a home office.

Fatherhood has shifted my perspective once more. My time with her is limited. So fleeting. And I must make the most of it.

Where I was once careless about wasting my time, I now stand firm. Where I once allowed others to take from me, I now demand from them.

Sure, I do what I must to appease my employer, but that doesn’t mean they sit on the throne of my life. That seat is full and will remain so for the rest of my life.

I can’t waste my time anymore. I can no longer be unperturbed. I have been given a gift from the Most High, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to be worthy of her.

The best way to do that is to make proper use of my time.