'Time Flies' - especially as we age?

[DeanFL]

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Looked at our online calendar... WHAT??? it will be AUGUST in a few days? Seemed as if it just turned - July. It feels as if the time flew, esp since March/COVID. I googled "aging and time flies" - got this>


Why Does Time Fly As We Age?

The older we get, the faster time seems to fly by. How often do you wonder where the time has gone? Is it your birthday again so soon? Well, one week has 10080 minutes in it no matter how fast it may seem to pass but there are scientific reasons for why our perception of time changes as we age.

As far back as 1890, Psychologist William James wrote that time seems to speed up because we measure ‘firsts’ as in first day of school, first kiss, first job and so on however as we age and gain experience, there are far fewer ‘firsts’ of anything. Others who have studied this perception have come to the similar conclusion that as our days become more routine time flattens out and, without events to highlight time, we believe it is passing more quickly.

A more obvious observation is that for a child who is five, one year is 20% of their life and their memory doesn’t extend across all five of those years while for a 50 year old, one year is a mere 2% of their life and as we age many of us will forget more than we remember about the minutiae of our life experiences. Those who have retired may view one day as melting into the next without the routines of work to separate one day from another at the very least.

Young children looking forward to an event such as a birthday or Christmas are counting the days until that all important event. Adults, on the other hand, are preparing for events with lists, shopping, cooking and invitations mixed in with work, stress, family obligations, getting the bills paid and making sure everyone gets to their classes and activities on time. For the child, the days leading up to that one event may go by ever so slowly while the parent may complain about the day not having nearly enough hours.

What’s the solution? Studies have shown that when we look back on a weekend filled with activities we feel that the hours have stretched and time has gone more slowly. It seems logical, then, that the more firsts and experiences we can include in our lives, the slower time will seem to pass. Routine is necessarily a part of our adult lives but make sure to make plans to break those routines and experience new things. It doesn’t have to be as expensive as an impulsive trip to some exotic location although that would certainly qualify! A walk through a new art gallery, a meal at a new restaurant or a new exercise routine will provide time markers just as surely as a weekend getaway to that B&B you’ve been wanting to try or bungee jumping from the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas. Give yourself the gift of a new experience and slow time down just a little bit.

...makes sense now.
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[Stu from NYC]

Look back and agree where has the time gone!

[davem4616]

Thanks informative...

What I still can't figure out though is why it always seems to take far less time to return home than it did to go somewhere

[manaboutown]

Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The older we get the faster the roll goes.

[retiredguy123]

Time flies when you're having fun. So, just stop having fun.

[Bjeanj]

Thanks informative...

What I still can't figure out though is why it always seems to take far less time to return home than it did to go somewhere

I agree with you!

[Bjeanj]

Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The older we get the faster the roll goes.

Good analogy.

[vintageogauge]

Days are shorter when you take a nap.

[retiredguy123]

Thanks informative...

What I still can't figure out though is why it always seems to take far less time to return home than it did to go somewhere
I agree. But, before GPS, I thought the stress of trying to find where you are going made it seem longer. Coming home was easier, so it seemed shorter. But, I think using GPS makes the time difference less noticeable.

[DeanFL]

Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The older we get the faster the roll goes.
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WAIT! What happens when it's the last sheet...and you have to 'GO'.

Then, do you go - like dead??? That's kinda crappy.
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[manaboutown]

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WAIT! What happens when it's the last sheet...and you have to 'GO'.

Then, do you go - like dead??? That's kinda crappy.
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Yes, it stinks, does it not?

When I gotta go, I gotta go, though.

So, I can understand why some people may not want to share a square.

[joecian1]

I use my GPS to go to the Supermarket less than 2 miles away. The helps me be aware of where I’m heading but, unfortunately I have a problem remembering why I went there.
Helps things slow down though.

[MandoMan]

Fifty years ago the obscure Canadian folk duet Fraser and DeBolt sang
The Queen was in her corner
Combing out her hair.
She asked me where the time goes.
I said, “Look Queen! It goes over there?”

And Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention sang “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”

But they were all young, so what did they know? And now many of them are dead.

Remember Robert Crumb’s “Mr. Natural” comic books? Old man with a long white beard.
“What’s it all mean, Mr. Natural?”
“Don’t mean ————!”

Or the person fifty years ago, asked about time and why time flies, said this about current events:
“It doesn’t mean ———— to a tree!”

In William Faulkner’s great story “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily’s memory of her eminent ancestors and those she has loved has them all sort of gathered together in one big field at the same time, irrespective of when they really lived. In my mind, my ancestors from 800 years ago died just a generation or two before I was born. They are all here with me.

I’m so happy to have my memories and so sad that there are so few who share them with me. I talk with my 91 year old father on the phone about things that happened in the fifties and sixties that I remember clearly (though often wrong) and that my siblings remember little to not at all. When he goes, I will be the last one to know or care. Christmas of 1960 was the last one with my aunt and uncle and cousins there before they got a divorce and moved away. That was the last REAL Christmas. I got an Erector Set for Christmas. That Christmas happened mostly in black and white, because most of the photos are in black and white. Dad drove a Rambler station wagon.

I’ve forgotten more about my family’s history than most of my family members have ever known.

You are right about it going faster and faster. I have two clocks that tell me the day of the week and the date as well as the time. I recommend that you all get one. It helps.

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Looked at our online calendar... WHAT??? it will be AUGUST in a few days? Seemed as if it just turned - July. It feels as if the time flew, esp since March/COVID. I googled "aging and time flies" - got this>


Why Does Time Fly As We Age?

The older we get, the faster time seems to fly by. How often do you wonder where the time has gone? Is it your birthday again so soon? Well, one week has 10080 minutes in it no matter how fast it may seem to pass but there are scientific reasons for why our perception of time changes as we age.

As far back as 1890, Psychologist William James wrote that time seems to speed up because we measure ‘firsts’ as in first day of school, first kiss, first job and so on however as we age and gain experience, there are far fewer ‘firsts’ of anything. Others who have studied this perception have come to the similar conclusion that as our days become more routine time flattens out and, without events to highlight time, we believe it is passing more quickly.

A more obvious observation is that for a child who is five, one year is 20% of their life and their memory doesn’t extend across all five of those years while for a 50 year old, one year is a mere 2% of their life and as we age many of us will forget more than we remember about the minutiae of our life experiences. Those who have retired may view one day as melting into the next without the routines of work to separate one day from another at the very least.

Young children looking forward to an event such as a birthday or Christmas are counting the days until that all important event. Adults, on the other hand, are preparing for events with lists, shopping, cooking and invitations mixed in with work, stress, family obligations, getting the bills paid and making sure everyone gets to their classes and activities on time. For the child, the days leading up to that one event may go by ever so slowly while the parent may complain about the day not having nearly enough hours.

What’s the solution? Studies have shown that when we look back on a weekend filled with activities we feel that the hours have stretched and time has gone more slowly. It seems logical, then, that the more firsts and experiences we can include in our lives, the slower time will seem to pass. Routine is necessarily a part of our adult lives but make sure to make plans to break those routines and experience new things. It doesn’t have to be as expensive as an impulsive trip to some exotic location although that would certainly qualify! A walk through a new art gallery, a meal at a new restaurant or a new exercise routine will provide time markers just as surely as a weekend getaway to that B&B you’ve been wanting to try or bungee jumping from the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas. Give yourself the gift of a new experience and slow time down just a little bit.

...makes sense now.
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[La lamy]

Thanks informative...

What I still can't figure out though is why it always seems to take far less time to return home than it did to go somewhere

Probably falls into the same rationale as has been mentioned. Going somewhere is full of new experiences, while coming back is more routine.

[daca55]

Our time is brief on the stage of action of life. Live everyday and take the time to smell the coffee!!

[MOMOH]

Yes...but July seems to be going on forever!

[rsibole]

Time, unlike most things that surround us, can’t be touched but it can be felt, can be measured but can’t be contained. As we pass through time, and time passes through us, it gives us experience and leaves us with memories.

Now our hearts are full of memories, memories of the love we shared with family and the friendship of so many, new friends and old.

The famous Dr Seuss once said, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.” To all our loving family and to every friend old and new, may each of our remains days together bring us many more moments to share and memories to make.

Thankfulness is the beginning of happiness, gratitude turns what we have into enough and daily prayers of thanksgiving for the abundance and Blessings in our life gives contentment.‬ This is how we live in peace.

[doctorknow]

Yes the perception of time changes as we age. Check out the book WHAT TIME ARE YOU? available on Amazon it gives an interesting look at the perception of time.

[HelenLCSW]

Thanks informative...

What I still can't figure out though is why it always seems to take far less time to return home than it did to go somewhere

Same answer —anticipation of doing something or getting somewhere makes time seem to go more slowly. Once we’ve been there, done that time seems to speed up again.

[theruizs]

Once your mind is freed from the limited physical brain, I think many memories will again be available, at least I hope so. And since we actually go on to live forever, I wonder how we will view time when we are hundreds, or thousands, or millions of years old?

[Barefoot]

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[Barborv]

I also read somewhere that body size and metabolic rate may influence the way one perceives the passage of time.

[Heaven Bound]

Once your mind is freed from the limited physical brain, I think many memories will again be available, at least I hope so. And since we actually go on to live forever, I wonder how we will view time when we are hundreds, or thousands, or millions of years old? yes we live forever but time (years) & space are for those here on earth

[LG999]

Thank you for sharing this info. I have been wondering about this & wanting to slow time down.

[Bay Kid]

Everyday is a blessing so we are blessed everyday.