Why is it that when we are younger, time seems to take forever to pass yet when we age, time seems to speed up and fly by? I don't know if there is one concrete answer to this question, but to me, I think that a lot has to do with our lives and the obligations and responsibilities we have. When we are younger, meaning mostly under the age of 18 (that seems to be the turning point for many people), our responsibilities are negligible. The younger we are, the less we are obligated to do and the less worries we have on our minds. With each passing year, though, there seems to be more and more that we "have" to do, "have" to worry about, and "have" to be responsible for. It seems that as our responsibilities and obligations pile up, there is less and less time to pursue our own agenda, whatever it may be. When we don't have to worry about anything and aren't running around like chickens with our heads cut off, time seems to pass more slowly, or at least there is a sense that we have more time. Time itself never changes, only we change in our relation to time. I think that time seems to speed up for than just one reason. When we are younger, our sense of time is different. We tend to think of time as an ethereal entity that controls the passing days and the changing seasons. There will always be tomorrow when we are younger. After all, by the age of ten we have only gone through a little more than a tenth of our life, a drop in the bucket at that age. A funny thing happens though as the years get added on; we begin to realize that there will be an end point to the time we experience on this earth and that approaching point makes time seem to speed along more quickly.
By the time we reach 30 or 40 years of age, a good chunk of our life has passed us by and for many people, this can be depressing. For me, I try and look at it as a positive. As I am about to turn 30 this coming Sunday, I view my life as just about a third over. That means I still have two thirds of my life left to live. Granted, our most active and productive years seem to be when we are younger, but that doesn't mean that it is all down hill from here. It simply means I can do less than I used to (although being in better shape than I was a decade ago, I'd like to think I can do more). Growing older, time seems to tighten its grip on us, forcing us to look around and see the world for what it is. Parents grow older and pass away, children grow up and move out. Time for the middle aged person is a whirlwind of emotions, feelings, and considerations. I found myself that it wasn't until recently that the whole cycle of life started to reveal itself in a more tangible way. For me, it was a combination of factors that started the revelation. It was grandparents getting older and having health problems, parents getting older, older friends losing their parents, having a son, and seeing friends have children. Seeing all these things occur began the realization that while there is a lot of life to live, it doesn't last forever. I think that for some people, this can be a depressing thought. To see the progression of life and to realize that we will all be six feet under one day is not the brightest thought, but it is one that we must come to terms with.
Perhaps that is another reason that time seems to speed up as we get older, the recognition of time itself and what it inevitably holds for us makes us realize how precious time is and how little of it we actually have in the overall scheme of things. That coupled with the sense of our deteriorating bodies and increasing obligations just seems to speed time right along. Yet with all of these depressing thoughts, there is a remedy to attempt to slow down time. That is to never stop living. If we stop and think too long about what time holds for us and where we will end up, then of course time will seem to fly by more quickly. Our responsibilities and obligations will never go away, they just alter periodically depending on our station in life, but we do have control over how we deal with them, our attitude towards them and life, and how we live. The only way to change our perspective on time is through action. If we simply think too much, nothing will happen and we will regret something along the way. However, if we live each moment for what it is, grasp every opportunity that presents itself, then at least life will have seemed worth living. This isn't to say that we must constantly be on the move for relaxation does wonders to help an overactive mind, but to stop moving and never start up again just hastens death to our door a little quicker. So to sum this all up, as I turn thirty in a few days, I see how time seems to be more fleeting and fickle, yet I also see the opportunities that life has and refuse to sit on the sidelines and let it pass me by. I will live as I have never lived before (at least I'd like to think I will), and make the next third of my life the best that it can be.
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