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Why time seems to pass faster as we age

invertedpassion.com

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Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#61

Post by kamaal »

Nah

Actually we do have very little time, its just that the upswing and downswing have different feels to it. You might have noticed this even when you are driving for a vacation. Drive to the picnic spot feels like an eternity, drive back home feels quick.

There are ~52 weeks a year. Which makes a week 2% of a year. That's already a fast enough tick. Weeks do go by fast. An year is like 10% of a decade. Once you are past the age of 40. You indeed have little time left.

Human life is short if you are doing remotely well in life. It can be a suffering if you are not doing great.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#62

Post by jvanderbot »

leokennis wrote: post #43
jvanderbot wrote: post #17

I've been journalling for 10+ years. In addition to forcing me to actually write down what happened that day, reviewing old entries provides a feeling of history that makes life feel soooo long and so rich. I can review my now-wife's rocky courtship and feel grateful we made it. I looked back 3 years ago and found the day our children were conceived :D (we have twins). I can review the anxieties of my PhD years, etc…

I am trying journaling as well but most days I don't know what to write...most days I'm not really doing special things, I have no special feelings. These days are enjoyable because I like my work and love my family, but I don't get further than "went to work, afterwards cooked and played with , in the evening "... What are you journaling on a daily basis?

Most of the time it's "I have to do this" or "I wish I had time to do this" or "Hey here's a random idea I had" or "My kids did this cute thing" or "We fought about this, here's what I think" or "oh here's my 3 favorite links from HN and what I thought about them or what they made me think about."

It took time to realize that was worth writing down.

Honestly I look back 10 years and see things like you describe. "I went to the gym for an hour, worked on this or that, blah blah", and I really love seeing that too. That's life man. Those memories fill your brain up with experiences and a sense of time if you let it. Just remembering how fit I used to be makes me happy and makes me want to do that again.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#63

Post by stephen_g »

jvanderbot wrote: post #17

I've been journalling for 10+ years. In addition to forcing me to actually write down what happened that day, reviewing old entries provides a feeling of history that makes life feel soooo long and so rich. I can review my now-wife's rocky courtship and feel grateful we made it. I looked back 3 years ago and found the day our children were conceived :D (we have twins). I can review the anxieties of my PhD years, etc…

I don’t have the motivation to journal, but I do get a fair bit of this kind of feeling scrolling back through my camera roll. I just take quick photos of all sorts of random stuff that happens or places I go, and it’s amazing the rush of memories that come back looking over them.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#65

Post by GuB-42 »

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #11

Pain extends time. Pleasure decreases it. Do things that are painful. Find pleasure in the painful like discipline and stuff that is uncomfortable.

That's not my experience.

Intense pain makes time feel longer, but it is the same for all intense experiences. And I am not even sure about that, endorphines can make time fly.

And when I consider memories, pleasurable events tend to take more time in my mind, pain tend to get erased more than pleasure. For example, I don't remember much about sick days, though obviously uncomfortable, they don't take much subjective time, thankfully.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#66

Post by jmathai »

> Take on projects that you have no idea about.

The idea of high correlation between predictability and time flying is interesting.

I'm working on patenting an idea and have filed the provisional. This gives me exactly 1 year to file the full application. There's so many unknowns between now and then which has me very aware of time and actively wanting to slow it down.

I'm not certain it always applies though. I've definitely had periods of high unpredictability where I enjoyed what I was doing and it didn't seem to go by slow at all.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#67

Post by _thisdot »

jvanderbot wrote: post #17

I've been journalling for 10+ years. In addition to forcing me to actually write down what happened that day, reviewing old entries provides a feeling of history that makes life feel soooo long and so rich. I can review my now-wife's rocky courtship and feel grateful we made it. I looked back 3 years ago and found the day our children were conceived :D (we have twins). I can review the anxieties of my PhD years, etc…

It’s amazing how quick we forget things we thought at the moment were so important. Not in the same vein as journaling, but I’d been keeping a list of Notion entries on things I found important enough to keep notes on at work for the past 2-3 years.

It’s different from my JIRA work log or Todoist list of completed tasks in that these are not everything I did, but just the important items. The things where I ran the risk of getting stuck

Come appraisal process, I’ll have forgotten most things I worked on in the year. My imposter syndrome creeps in, but this Notion page keeps me sane!

With this proof in hand, I’ve started journaling. I use the Apple Journal app. And it’s doing a good job of prompting me!

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#68

Post by dougmwne »

bongodongobob wrote: post #52
dougmwne wrote: post #51

I’ve learned that the passage of time is extremely relative. My college years were extremely full of new experiences and they feel like ages. Once I started working, my life was very rote and consisted mainly of driving from home to work and back again. I worked a lot of hours and vacations and weekend trips were infrequent. Time flew by. Then I ditched settled life and started traveling year round with a couple of b…

Yeah I can't believe more people don't just travel for a decade.

Certainly many people on this website could if it were their priority. Some money is required, but not very much. I’m sure I make less money than many here because I take jobs that prioritize remote work and flexibility.

So what’s really the blocker for many is a choice of priorities. I won’t have children. I don’t have a strong need to play homemaker or gardener. My lifestyle is pretty similar to a lot of retirees who have second homes and travel between them. I talk to quite a few in one of my home bases and we have a lot of the same travel plans as well as it’s common for them to try to spend a month or two a year traveling to new places.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#69

Post by dougmwne »

rcbdev wrote: post #55
bongodongobob wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I can't believe more people don't just travel for a decade.

It's not as unreasonable as you think - even in lower income / high tax burden countries like Austria an avg. net salary is enough to keep on travelling to all kinds of places. I know people who work for the state government who keep appearing in India, Thailand, Brazil etc. when we're in meetings - usually they're billed as external consultants to avoid tax liability issues. The true crux is that most people don't a…

Exactly this. But I disagree that settled is natural. Humans evolved in nomadic tribes that followed the herds. Stability is a social technology that was developed alongside agriculture. Stability feels unnatural to me and I get the itch after too many months in one place. My two bases are near family and I have developed friendships with other traveling people. I’ll meet up this weekend in Miami with a Swede that I met in Portugal and last saw in New York.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#70

Post by dartos »

bwestergard wrote: post #7
dartos wrote: post #3

I think mediation and gratefulness is a good way around this too. If your take explicit time to recognize and examine the world around you, even in your backyard, time seems to stretch and you notice and retain more. I’m lucky enough to have lots of different colored birds show up in my backyard, so sometimes I sit out there and wait for them. It’s not exciting, but every time I see one it’s a new memory and those ne…

If you're not already aware, Cornell offers a bunch if resources to enhance your birding experience. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/

I know literally nothing about birds lol.

There are just some pretty ones around me.

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