Whether you're 1 or 100, time passes at the same rate. Yet, why does time seem to flow at different rates? Sometimes time seems to fly by, while other times it seems to crawl. As a child, those few days before christmas seemed to take forever, yet the weeks of summer vacation seemed to zip on by. Why?
The answer is rather paradoxical. Our brain sees time in 2 ways - as it's passing and as it has passed. Because of this, our perception of time doesn't always align with a clock's passing of time. For example, that vacation we took to the Bahamas seemed to zip on by, but when we look back on it, it seemed to take a longer time. Our brain perceived time passing differently as we did it than when we remembered it. When we do something fun or for the first time, we make lots of new or "original" (novel?) memories. Our brain judges time by the number of "new" (original) memories that were formed. The more "new" memories it forms, the longer something will seem to have taken (past tense). The less, the quicker. Now comes the paradox...
As we get older, we have less and less "new" (novel?) memories (passing time), yet at the same time we have many more (time passed ). Thus, the older we get, the quicker time seems to pass.
I dunno about that. I read every word you wrote and I just zoned out. No reflection on you. My summers DRAGGED by. So your saying the weeks of summer zipped by brought me up short. After the first two weeks of summer vacation I was ready to go back to school. Those were way back in the day when you had THREE MONTHS OFF! I LOVED school. I LOVED learning. I LOVED knowing. I'd mark the days off of how much longer I had to wait to return to school. It DRAGGED ON FOR SO LONG! Summer vacation! :( Different strokes for different folks m'dear including KIDS! I remember when time seemed o stand still for me too. My folks had long-time friends with kids and we'd do lots of things together. It was 4 couples and their kids. I grew up with them. In the summers we'd meet at the beach for a long day...breakfast and lunch we'd eat there and sometimes stay till dark. I remember wandering off by myself every time...I was about 14 when I started doing that. We had a favorite spot in Laguna Beach we'd go and there were some flat rocks down the beach I'd just end up sitting on. I'd look out at the horizon and was exceedingly aware of the sun making diamonds on the waves..of the color of sky and the shapes of the clouds...time stopped and I had no reason to want it to rev up. It was peaceful. I always wondered what was out there beyond my ability to see. Calm quiet solitary. I could see the others back at the place we always went and they could see me but we were not close enough to intrude on one another. Funny what memories stick with you. Thank you for your reply Shuhak. Not liking summer vacation was indeed WEIRD don'tcha think? :)
NOT liking summer vacation??? Weird indeed. Personally, I found them boring (nothing to do, no friends). The best part of them was that I could sleep in. No having the bedroom lights turned on at 6:15 (5:40 for high school) to wake me up. Dad would open the door, flip on the light switch and say, get up.
I never had to be awakened. I think I have an internal clock. I cannot remember a time I woke up because the alarm went off though I set it religiously every night. How weird is that? I think we wouldda got along even though you like sleeping in and me? Not at all unless I was really sick. Different strokes. Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :)
I used an alarm for work and it rarely woke me. I'd lie there and wait for the time to to get to one minnite to go and then turn it off.
This is going to sound really bad, but... I kind of hate being told what to do. I'm a morning person; alway have been. But being told to get up (by a person or an alarm) goes against me. On Saturdays, when the rest of the family was sleeping in, I was up watching cartoons (on verylow volume). No alarm, no lights... I had my bowl of Cocoa Puffs and had the TV on at 6 when the cartoons started! But on a school day? They practically had to drag me out of bed.
Yeah me too. But it depends on the metnod of delivery, who delivers it and what I get out of it if I comply and what I have to pay if I don't. Basically I follow the rules, do as the authority tells me (parent or teacher or supervisor) unless it makes no sense. I don't make waves but I also don't do anything that I know is stupid. Never had a problem with authority that is or who is smarter than me. But a dumb bell ordering me around? That I can't take and don't. Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :)
Shuhak 