When mechanical parts work together they are usually separated by a small amount of oil or lubricant to prevent them from breaking down. When we are going through a difficult time and the friction of life takes its toll on us, we often feel the need for some sort of buffer between the grinding of the plates.

We need lubricant.

Time is the thing that lubricates us from one tough moment to the next. Without it, much like the flaking of metal chards in an engine, we can become scarred and our tolerance, mindset, beliefs and sensitivity can erode; causing us to change.

To say that I am the same person I was 5 years ago would be a lie on some many levels. A lot of my life has changed. From relocating back to Texas to losing my brother to crossing another decade milestone in age, a lot has happened and all of those things have made an impact-good and bad. They have changed me and time has been the one constant and buffer. My parents and I are on a different level of communication, my sister and I are closer and my niece and I have a great relationship that probably never would have happened had it not been for the passing of my brother. Those things only became apparent to me due to the buffer of time.

When it comes to music, we in the radio industry, often use the expression “time heals all tempos”. What that means is that just because a song or a type of sound is polarizing to people today, doesn’t mean that it will be tomorrow. Rap music and hard rock were once not acceptable to the mainstream pallet, but over the years, they found their way into the programming of traditionally formatted radio stations and are now very much the norm. All they needed was time to erode the edges and become more acceptable to the masses. The songs really didn’t change, but our perceptions and tolerance did. People don’t often change and situations don’t always change, but time allows us to cope and become tolerant and accepting.

Work to be accepting of your scars and the scars of others. Understand that life is not a race and the journey is going to put us in places we didn’t see ourselves in and provide us with outcomes we never saw coming. You can’t place a Band-Aid on life and expect things to fix themselves or heal overnight (like you believed when you were a kid). #Tryharder to accept that time is the only true lubricant and it happens at its own pace.