Ambushed by time.....
April 23rd 2007 15:28
"The older you get the faster time goes by." I'll never forget my mom saying that to me when I was little. At the time it didn't make any sense, of course. How could time go faster as you get older? Time was time, right? All I knew was that summer days seemed to stretch on to infinity, and the minute hand moved tortuously slowly throughout the school day.
And now, here I am. 30 years old today. How the hell did that happen??? Somehow, between the time my mom spoke those words and right now, I went to high school and college, moved to NYC for a while, moved back to Massachusetts, got married, and have now turned 30. Yesterday I was 8, playing in the woods in my back yard, and when I woke up this morning I had a mortgage and a receding hair line.
I'm certainly not the first person to make this observation. I think we all pause now and then and think, "whoa.....where did that 20 years go?" I don't know what to do about this. The more I think about it and try to hold on and slow things down, the more the sand slips through my fingers. The older I get, time DOES seem to go by faster. It makes sense, of course. When you're a kid, your time is broken up into chunks. School is interrupted by summer vacation. For a long time everything is a series of firsts: first sleepover, first dance, first time driving, first part-time job, etc. When everything is new it demands your focus. Being in school, learning new things.....this requires focusing on the moment. That sort of focus, I think, makes it feel as though time is elongated.
Fast-forward to real life: same job each day, no summer vacation, no learning new things all the time (not in the same way as during childhood, I mean). Sameness allows time to bleed together. The edges get fuzzy. Weeks go by now with a rapidity that I find continually astonishing. I've been alive for 1560 weeks so far. If I'm lucky I'll live another 2340 or so. It sounds like a lot, but I know that it isn't.
So maybe that's the secret then. Focus on the moment, enjoy the now. Learn new things. Pay attention to each day for the unique moment that it is, not the continual drone of time that it sometimes appears to be. Huh. I guess that's not really much of a secret at all.
And now, here I am. 30 years old today. How the hell did that happen??? Somehow, between the time my mom spoke those words and right now, I went to high school and college, moved to NYC for a while, moved back to Massachusetts, got married, and have now turned 30. Yesterday I was 8, playing in the woods in my back yard, and when I woke up this morning I had a mortgage and a receding hair line.
I'm certainly not the first person to make this observation. I think we all pause now and then and think, "whoa.....where did that 20 years go?" I don't know what to do about this. The more I think about it and try to hold on and slow things down, the more the sand slips through my fingers. The older I get, time DOES seem to go by faster. It makes sense, of course. When you're a kid, your time is broken up into chunks. School is interrupted by summer vacation. For a long time everything is a series of firsts: first sleepover, first dance, first time driving, first part-time job, etc. When everything is new it demands your focus. Being in school, learning new things.....this requires focusing on the moment. That sort of focus, I think, makes it feel as though time is elongated.
Fast-forward to real life: same job each day, no summer vacation, no learning new things all the time (not in the same way as during childhood, I mean). Sameness allows time to bleed together. The edges get fuzzy. Weeks go by now with a rapidity that I find continually astonishing. I've been alive for 1560 weeks so far. If I'm lucky I'll live another 2340 or so. It sounds like a lot, but I know that it isn't.
So maybe that's the secret then. Focus on the moment, enjoy the now. Learn new things. Pay attention to each day for the unique moment that it is, not the continual drone of time that it sometimes appears to be. Huh. I guess that's not really much of a secret at all.
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Comment by charliesgirl_992000
Histeries, Mysteries and what not
Lifes little slices
Mystical Creativity
Tammy
Comment by Winston
Small Thoughts on Big Questions
I'm glad you liked it. I'm not sure if I said anything of any real value, but it's what came to my old, stunned mind this morning!
Comment by charliesgirl_992000
Histeries, Mysteries and what not
Lifes little slices
Mystical Creativity
Great real life writing there!
Tammy
Comment by Cibbuano
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Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by Wendi
Oh, yes...
And all those times the grown ups warned us girls about how things won't look the same when we're thirty? Oh, yeah... things change! When I was younger, all the way through my twenties, I could eat as much of whatever I wanted and not gain a single pound. People used to call me names for it from envy, and then give me that evil laugh and not to say, "Well, you just wait 'til you're thirty and it'll all catch up with you then!"
*gasp* - the curse!
It's true... time speeds up when you're older. I'm facing 35 right around the corner, and the last birthday I remember having was when I turned 30. *LOL* Where'd that last five years go?
... I'm only about a month tardy, but happy birthday, and welcome to "your thirties", a decade of discovery.
W
Comment by Winston
Small Thoughts on Big Questions
Comment by Winston
Small Thoughts on Big Questions
Ah well, I'll be fine for another 10 years or so. I don't even want to think about 40 right now (although my brother hits that milestone in August - hehehe)