Time Flies
Wow, time has really flown by, It only seems like yesterday that it was Christmas and now we are at the end of January.. Where did it go?
There is the saying “The older you get the quicker time flies.” But why should age have this effect? I’d
understand it, if I was having fun all of the time, at least I would be happy with that other saying “Time flies when you’re having fun”. As I’ve aged, time flies whether I’m having fun or not. Why is that?
I asked my partner about it, he’s a bit of a science geek and he started to explain……
“Time is the movement of all particles in the universe and the change we experience of movement of particles blah blah blah blah”. I’m sure he mentioned something about entropy at some point, but I can’t be sure.
So, I went to one place, where I thought I could find the answer that I could understand, “GOOGLE”. Many of the returns where so technical, dealing with brain structure and functions, neurotransmitters, it went straight over my head. Then there were those that related to parenting or religion talking about how the days are long, but the years are short. Still didn’t make sense.
I changed the search criteria again came across a mathematical explanation, which explained how as you age each year becomes a smaller percentage of your life, therefore it goes quicker. For example, I’m 49 years old and the coming 12 months will equal a significantly smaller percentage of my life then it was between my 9th and 10th birthdays, when the proportion of my life that passed in that one year was considerably more substantial. It sort of made some sense but not quite what I was looking for.
Finally, after searching the internet for what felt like hours (it may have only been 30 minutes), I thought I may have to take the philosophical approach and “just live with it “. It seemed good advice but not really an explanation. As I sat there, mulling over everything I read and pondering my decision, it dawned on me, it has to do with “anticipation” and “retrospection”.
When we are young every thing is novel… and we can lose ourselves in the experience. Our first day of school, our first kiss, driving a car, getting a job, getting married are all new experiences and they become milestones in our lives. We look back on these milestones with fondness. As we get older we have more milestones with which to look back on. So the farther and faster they appear to recede.
Maybe the answer is to simply have something to look forward to all the time, keeping the anticipation alive. Or as my partner would put “Getting a Life”!.
