The Years are going by too Fast

[Sandeep1]

Anyone else feel like time passes by so fast? Especially the last 10 years, I feel like they just flew by.

 

[E&Cmom]

Definitely! More so since having kids. Seeing them age makes the years fly by. My youngest is starting high school in the Fall and eldest only has 2 years left of high school. Feels like they were just babies.

 

[manning]

Time goes by at the same rate. As you age the mind processes the perception of time differently. You think it is going faster but not. Remember when you where a kid and things took forever?

 

[Sandeep1]

Time goes by at the same rate. As you age the mind processes the perception of time differently. You think it is going faster but not. Remember when you where a kid and things took forever?

When I was a kid, I was stuck in school all day so that's why it seemed like time stood still. Lol

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I agree. I think it is also a perception thing.
I can also remember things from 10 years ago and it doesn't seem like it has been that long.

 

[indimom]

Part of it is perception of time speeding up. I definitely feel that now that my nest is empty. But I also think we "fill our time" more than we used to. When I was a kid, waiting for something fun, literally involved a lot of WAITING... now we fill that time with a million other small activities that we didn't have then, handheld games, phones, binge watching television shows, video chatting. Mindless activities that fill up the dead space in every day. We don't have a lot of "waiting" time like we did when I was a child. Just my opinion.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Anyone else feel like time passes by so fast?

Every year faster than the last!!

DS and I have worked out a theory that perception of time is related to percentage of your life. So a year when you're 5 is 20% of your life - a really long time. A year when you're 50 is 2% of your life - almost nothing.

 

[Tattylou]

Every year faster than the last!!

DS and I have worked out a theory that perception of time is related to percentage of your life. So a year when you're 5 is 20% of your life - a really long time. A year when you're 50 is 2% of your life - almost nothing.

This is my theory too!!

 

[ronandannette]

Every year faster than the last!!

DS and I have worked out a theory that perception of time is related to percentage of your life. So a year when you're 5 is 20% of your life - a really long time. A year when you're 50 is 2% of your life - almost nothing.

Totally! I actually find myself occasionally pondering now that there’s more of it behind me than in front.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

The years with the kids are flying - while simultaneously, the years to retirement are DRAGGING. 5 more years!!!

 

[Floridaman999]

Every year faster than the last!!

DS and I have worked out a theory that perception of time is related to percentage of your life. So a year when you're 5 is 20% of your life - a really long time. A year when you're 50 is 2% of your life - almost nothing.

This seems spot on. The older I get, the years are just screaming by at this point.

 

[Floridaman999]

The years with the kids are flying - while simultaneously, the years to retirement are DRAGGING. 5 more years!!!

Once you get there things will speed up and it'll seem like a blur.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Definitely speeding up! on a small scale, I can't believe it's the middle of May - it seriously feels like we JUST had Christmas. I know part of it is because it still feels like winter here in the midwest since we have been struggling to get out of the 50's and wind/rain for the most part so far! But I seriously couldn't tell you where the past 4 months have gone.

On a larger scale, I can't believe my oldest will be 19 and has finished his first year of college. And DD14's last full day of school is today (next week is finals) and she is done with her freshman year of high school! Only three more to go, and she will be off to college, too, and only 5 more years until DS13 is done. I know that time will fly by too.

I get physically jolted sometimes when I see a picture or video of my kids when they were little. It brings me back real quick to that moment and it's almost unfathomable when I think of the time that has passed in between. Very unsettling, for some reason

 

[tvguy]

A year or so from retirement.
A month from my first grandchild being born.
Last weekend, I watched my daughter's friend graduate from the same college I graduated from 40 years earlier (almost to the day).

Yes, time flies.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Every year faster than the last!!

DS and I have worked out a theory that perception of time is related to percentage of your life. So a year when you're 5 is 20% of your life - a really long time. A year when you're 50 is 2% of your life - almost nothing.

I learned an interesting concept in a Psychology of Aging, Death, and Dying class I took in college, when I was about 30. There's a psychological "awakening" of sorts that most adults go through where they start counting years not by how many have passed, but how many they think they might have left. It usually happens around 40-50 years old, and not surprisingly often coincides with "mid-life crisis" behavior. I am now going to be 43 next week and am starting to get to that point. It's been interesting to go through it myself since I studied it a decade ago when I was still "young" and knew it would happen. What I was a little surprised about, though, is that it seems to be more of a lengthy process than just a sudden thought. I feel like I have slowly come to the realization that my life is likely about half over, and I tend to spend more time contemplating the years I have left more carefully, instead of taking for granted that I have a lifetime still left to live.

 

[Sandeep1]

I learned an interesting concept in a Psychology of Aging, Death, and Dying class I took in college, when I was about 30. There's a psychological "awakening" of sorts that most adults go through where they start counting years not by how many have passed, but how many they think they might have left. It usually happens around 40-50 years old, and not surprisingly often coincides with "mid-life crisis" behavior. I am now going to be 43 next week and am starting to get to that point. It's been interesting to go through it myself since I studied it a decade ago when I was still "young" and knew it would happen. What I was a little surprised about, though, is that it seems to be more of a lengthy process than just a sudden thought. I feel like I have slowly come to the realization that my life is likely about half over, and I tend to spend more time contemplating the years I have left more carefully, instead of taking for granted that I have a lifetime still left to live.

Great post!

 

[Sandeep1]

I agree. I think it is also a perception thing.
I can also remember things from 10 years ago and it doesn't seem like it has been that long.

Yes I agree. Like 10 years ago seems like not that long ago. But when I was 18 heading off to college, and maybe looking back when I was 8, it seemed like another lifetime ago.

 

[John VN]

I learned an interesting concept in a Psychology of Aging, Death, and Dying class I took in college, when I was about 30. There's a psychological "awakening" of sorts that most adults go through where they start counting years not by how many have passed, but how many they think they might have left. It usually happens around 40-50 years old, and not surprisingly often coincides with "mid-life crisis" behavior. I am now going to be 43 next week and am starting to get to that point. It's been interesting to go through it myself since I studied it a decade ago when I was still "young" and knew it would happen. What I was a little surprised about, though, is that it seems to be more of a lengthy process than just a sudden thought. I feel like I have slowly come to the realization that my life is likely about half over, and I tend to spend more time contemplating the years I have left more carefully, instead of taking for granted that I have a lifetime still left to live.

seriously ....

I woke up on my 50th B-day (2000) and thought to myself, "You are 50 years old and 1st-- you most likely have lived longer than the time you have left to live and 2nd -- before you die you will be told you have cancer." Never had that mid-life crisis, still alive AND have cancer.

Time does not pass any faster than previously because I have no doubts that once I die, that's the end. No need for a "Bucket List" to be made and fulfilled because in doing so one validates the idea that after death there is a continuation of sorts, "Heaven???" and therefore there would be some kind of "recollection of having been alive" and thus a sadness for not accomplishing everything in the bucket. No meeting up with relatives, friends and whatever one deems to be a most desirable for-ever-after.

I close my eyes and fall asleep. At that very moment there is nothing, like the anesthesia before surgery begins. If I wake up from sleep or surgery it means another day dealing with life, the good the bad and the ugly. I can not agree with the saying, "It's better than the ALTERNATIVE." Often I would rather have the "ALTERNATIVE" and have the feeling that I might not be alone with that thought.