When I was younger, time felt infinite. Christmas lasted longer and summers went on forever. As Bryan Adams, a popular Canadian singer, once said, “Those were the best days of my life.” But now time has blurred into one. The seasons feel shorter. Years feel like months. Months feel like weeks.
Weeks feel like days. One minute you're planning your new year goals.
Next minute you're shopping for Secret Santa. And like this, the years go by. And we're left thinking, where did it all go?
And that brings about a universal question we have all asked ourselves at some point in our life, "Why does time seem to move faster the older we get?" Because time has and always will move at the same pace. So surely our experience of time should feel the same throughout life.
A possible explanation is the time perception theory. In simple words, our experience of time changes based on how we perceive it. That explains why when you're having a bad day or going through a bad phase, time feels like it's moving in slow motion. So if that's true, why did time feel like it lasted forever when we were younger? That's because when growing up we had more novel experiences.
Every day truly felt like a new day, a new experience, a new story to tell. But now it's all just the same. The same office, the same commute, the same routine, with novelty and spontaneity, being limited to 25 days a year if you're lucky. That's why adulthood feels like one big blur. And if the blur continues long enough, you'll wake up one day and ask yourself, where did it all go?
For the vast majority, the answer will be staring at a screen, chasing money, and being glued to a desk.
But for the lucky few, the answer will be prioritizing experiences,
learning new things, living outside your comfort zone, and seeking adventure.
As Benjamin Franklin (the man on the 100 dollar bill) once said, most men die at 25. We just bury them at 75.
So to keep yourself alive means keeping your inner child alive, full of wonder and curiosity. And for those set of people who do so, the summers will last forever.
