"Time"

Warning: My brain is all Philosophical and esoteric tonight.... 

They all said it when I was younger - older people telling me how time goes faster when you get older. Didn't really believe them... until I got to my 30s, seemed the days were getting shorter, then in my 40s time seemed to be screaming by like a jet! I'm almost 50 and it seems as though the days are now only 3 hours long.

The ironic part is, I'm on permanent disability - no longer 9 to 10-hour workdays. You'd think my days would be longer and more relaxed, with plenty of time to do stuff..... Quite the opposite. Time goes by faster now more than ever.

Which makes me wonder, since a 24 hour day is exactly the same whether your 5 or 50, "TIME" is obviously perceived by our individual brains. How is this so... Is it cuz our thinking is different than when we were children?  Is it inevitable that adults must live with time passing faster.... Could we "change" our thinking and slow the days down again?

Did I just waste my time typing all this out???

At 5 years old one year is a fifth of your life so a high percentage of it. At 50 it's a much lower percentage so it seems faster. If that makes sense.

Time keeps on slippin' slippin'.....


Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.

I agree Jim, I have no idea where the time goes these days it flies by. My oldest daughter is a senior now and when I started my job she was 3!!! I feel like I just started this job a few weeks ago! 

I recently listened to the two songs above (Steve Miller & Floyd) and man do those lyrics hit home. 

Our memory is only so big so our memories are compressed as we get older.  Look at our memory as a mile long road.

At 1 year old, your birth is a mile away while your birthday is right in front of you.

At 2 years old, your birth is still a mile away while your 1st birthday is a half mile away and your 2nd birthday is right in front of you.

At 50, your birth is a mile away, while your 25th birthday is a half mile away and your 50th birthday is right in front of you.

The space in our memory is shorter between years as we pack more years in there.  My childhood almost seems non-existant while 20 years ago seems like yesterday.

Xid wrote:

Our memory is only so big so our memories are compressed as we get older.  Look at our memory as a mile long road.

At 1 year old, your birth is a mile away while your birthday is right in front of you.

At 2 years old, your birth is still a mile away while your 1st birthday is a half mile away and your 2nd birthday is right in front of you.

At 50, your birth is a mile away, while your 25th birthday is a half mile away and your 50th birthday is right in front of you.

The space in our memory is shorter between years as we pack more years in there.  My childhood almost seems non-existant while 20 years ago seems like yesterday.

Wow, interesting way to look at it.  Makes sense too.

Time isn't changing.  Our concept of time is changing.  When you are one and someone tells you that they will do something next year, it means nothing.  That is a lifetime away.

When we turn 20 and someone tells us we will do something next year, it is still a good distance away as that is only 1/20th of our life.

When we hit 50 and we decide to do something next year, it races towards us as that is now 1/50th of our life.

When we are 80, next year really doesn't mean anything anymore.  A year is 1/80th of our life making a full 12 months seem like just a few days.  Also, it races at us as we know that next year may never come.  We are out to pasture, and we know that our time will soon come.

Our concept of times passes as we know that it is running out.  I don't expect to die any time soon, but I am more aware now that this ride is over halfway over.  It has been good with many ups and downs, but I am thankful to the Lord for all He has done for me and the life I have been given.

Want to slow things down a bit? Listen to some DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! 

Jeff knows what's up.  It's the secret to life, really. 

LOL !! You guys are awesome, I love all the responses. I actually had a longer comment typed out on my cell phone but never hit "send"... then TIME passed by and I thought I DID send the comment... now it's gone and I had no idea what I typed out except to say - Black Rider, XID, and Alldat really made me think. Your analogies really made sense and made the concept of Time easier to "get".

If that doesn't help, you can always listen to "Time" by Deliverance.

^Or by Angra or the Theocracy cover of Angra...  

Black Rider wrote:

At 5 years old one year is a fifth of your life so a high percentage of it. At 50 it's a much lower percentage so it seems faster. If that makes sense.

This has been my theory for awhile now, too.