Building a Future While Watching Time Pass

The unspoken guilt of chasing a dream while your parents grow older

No one really talks about what it feels like to watch your parents grow old while you’re busy building a business.

When I first started chasing this dream, I thought the biggest sacrifices would be sleep or money or nights out with friends. But lately the part that weighs heaviest is realizing how much time slips by with my family. I used to see my parents every weekend. I would pop over without thinking twice. Now my weekends are spent at a desk, in a studio, or at a photoshoot. Brainstorming how to scale my brand, answering emails, planning launches. Weeks blur together and then I look up and realize it’s been over a month since I’ve sat with them.

And when I do see them, I notice the changes more clearly. The gray hair, the slower walk, the way they get tired a little quicker. It hits me that they won’t be here forever. That time is moving whether I acknowledge it or not. It brings this mix of guilt and sadness I don’t think entrepreneurs admit out loud enough.

Because yes, building something of your own takes immense effort. It demands everything. But it also costs things you can’t put a price tag on. The missed dinners. The empty chairs at family gatherings. The moments you don’t get back.

I know this path can be isolating. I know it feels like you’re sacrificing everything for a future that hasn’t fully arrived yet. But I’m also reminding myself, and maybe you too, that the people we love are part of the future we’re building for. That success doesn’t mean much if we look up one day and realize we didn’t spend the time that mattered most.

So maybe this is just me being honest with myself. Maybe this is me trying to put words to a feeling a lot of us carry quietly. If you’re building something, I hope you make space to see your loved ones more often. Call them. Visit them. Hug them.