We all know that things, like our television sets, have value. And we try to take care of those things that are valuable to us. For example, we never would take our dear late Aunt Gertrude’s string of pearls and throw them out in the front yard. That’s unthinkable.

But somehow, we aren’t so careful with our time. We easily forget it’s value.

I like to think of time as a string of moments—like a string of pearls—that has a clear beginning and an eventual end.

We make decisions about what to do with each moment and, sometimes, we are not all that careful—like, we might just watch three consecutive episodes of a favorite TV show, tossing a handful of pearls right out the window.

Maybe we would rather have spent that time with a kid home from college—who is also throwing her own pearls out by being on the Internet for the same three hours.

Of course, we do need time to relax. But we need to think about what we are doing with our downtime, as it might not be our preferred choice.

And this is why I love the New Year. It’s a great time to consider, on the whole, how are our moments are being spent. Are our pearls of time just slipping away, one by one?

It might happen that you have fallen into the trap of having only work time, sleep time and mindless downtime. Some key questions:

-- Are your moments taking you in the direction that you want to go?

-- Are your moments with others spent in healthy and enriching ways?

Maybe you feel like your time is being stolen. Maybe it’s a smash and grab. Your work has kicked down your metaphorical door and robbed you of 40 hours a week. Or maybe there is a toxic relationship that slips through an open window and steals way too many hours, leaving you feeling depleted at the end of each day.