Time flies when you get older, where does that feeling come from?

My perception of time has changed completely over the years and not in a positive way. Time flies by nowadays. You probably recognize it. The days fly into weeks, the weeks fly into months and before you know it you are ten/twenty years older and three children further…

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A few (recognizable?) situations that show that time flies for us

• If I say: “New? No, I sang that song/saw that movie, was I still wearing those clothes ehhh…ohhh… has it been almost 25 years?”
• Every morning:“uhhh, is it morning already?”
• “When we had date night…. Ehhh… don't know, what is date night again?”
• Child:“euhhh.. are we eating again (fill in vegetables of your choice)? Me:“yes, we haven't eaten that in a while” Child:“yes, we ate that the day before yesterday.” Me:“really?”
• If your toddler still sleeps in the afternoon and you have to:wash, dry, wash, tidy up, clean and cook food while you would prefer to take a nap yourself. Of course we all know that this is doomed to fail.
• When you reminisce with friends.

How come time flies when you get older?

Research shows that we can remember situations that are different and different from the rest faster and better. Your brain registers new things much better and then you experience more time, you experience more. You can see that immediately in our children, right?

We do more, but less new things

Because you get older, you do a lot but experience fewer new (positive) things. The 'been there, done that' principle. Your brain doesn't think that's worth remembering. You experience less, remember less and then you get the feeling that time flies by.

So it's very paradoxical. The more unique memories, the slower time goes. The more you do everything on autopilot, the fewer memories you have and the faster time goes. When you multitask, everything is on autopilot, you don't know anything on balance and the week flies by 😉 . I hear you thinking… AHA! And I hear myself say 'time flies when you're having fun'.

Children and new experiences

Children experience everything for the first time. They are completely absorbed in it and therefore make a lot of memories. They are much less likely to experience that time – in the long term – flies by.

Everything is new to them. They have fun and educational moments that they are very focused on. Another example. I like playing simple games with small children myself, but after sliding 50 times a peek-a-boo slide, I'm done with it. I've seen it, and I'm sure you recognize it. I quickly think about what tasks I still have to do and my attention is distracted.

Act mindfully

If you do everything “mindfull”, you experience it fully, it makes more impression and time slows down. So you enjoy more in that sense. Okay, clear, I'm experiencing too little exciting and I'm doing too much on autopilot.

So I need to gain more unique experiences. And what I do must also be mindful and intense. To experience and let time slow down and enjoy life more. This way you extend your life in that sense.

Okay, now I know the tricks to make time slow down. Now it's time to put theory into practice. Do I just have to find the time between all the daily grind activities to gain fun new unique experiences! Where am I going to get that time? Time will tell!

Do you still have those recognizable situations where it really feels like time flies? I am curious about how you experience this.

Other articles that are interesting to read can be found here:

• Women experience free time very differently than men
• Coming to school on time is an Olympic achievement!
• A life without children, then I still had time!