Sun or Shade?
Time flies when you’re having fun! We have heard this idiom used a thousand times and in various ways. The first record of this little phrase dates all the way back to the 1800s. If the earth had a voice, I wonder how many events would cause it to say that little phrase.
The older I get; the quicker time seems to go; I know I can’t be the only one who feels this same way. And for the past couple of weeks, every time Thursday hits, I wish it was Tuesday. Not because I don’t enjoy Fridays and weekends, but because there is still so much to do, and I want the satisfaction of a completed to-do list so that I may truly enjoy my Fridays and weekends.
So, me being me, I dove headfirst down the rabbit hole! I set about gathering information pertaining to the passage of time. I discovered I was right! The older we get, the faster we perceive time to pass. It’s not because we are overwhelmed with work, kids’ activities, or the stress of constant change. It’s neurological.
It turns out, there are significant differences between the ticking of the clock on the wall and the ticking of the human biorhythm. According to Professor Bejan of the Harvard Business Journal, it is possible that the rate in which we process visual information slows down as we grow older. Therefore, time flies by. I know, it would seem based on that information time would slow down, right?
Since this is a hard to conceptualize, I am just going to copy and paste a portion of what the blog says:
“As we age, he argues, the size and complexity of the networks of neurons in our brains increases – electrical signals must traverse greater distances and thus signal processing takes more time. Moreover, ageing causes our nerves to accumulate damage that provides resistance to the flow of electric signals, further slowing processing time. Focusing on visual perception, Bejan posits that slower processing times result in us perceiving fewer ‘frames-per-second’ – more actual time passes between the perception of each new mental image. This is what leads to time passing more rapidly. When we are young, each second of actual time is packed with many more mental images. Like a slow-motion camera that captures thousands of images per second, time appears to pass more slowly.”
There was no way for me to paraphrase that without losing its luster.
However, I will summarize it the best way possible in my own words… always try to stay in the moment. Like I said last week, we are always pulled in so many different directions. We need to make more conscience effort to stay present. I don’t know about you, but I want the slow-motion camera back in my life. Even in the bad times I want it, so then I enjoy the good times even more.