I wonder why…
Why does time fly as we grow up?
Your summers are getting shorter. It's not your fault. It's your brain.
½
At 1, six months was half your life.
At 20, it's barely a fortieth. Every year is a smaller slice of everything you've lived, so it feels smaller.
- 1
Childhood is full of firsts.
First friendships. First fears. Everything is new, and your brain saves new things in rich detail.
- 2
Then life gets familiar.
Same route, same desk, same week. The brain stops saving details. Days become templates instead of stories.
- 3
Fewer memories, shorter years.
When you look back, a year with few distinct memories feels compressed, even though it was just as long.
Slow it down again
Do one new thing a week
New place, new food, new route. Firsts get remembered.
Write one line a day
Turns templates back into stories.
Notice something small
Even briefly. Like right now.
Life didn't get shallow. It got familiar.
Sources
- The proportional theory of time perception
- Research on novelty and memory (e.g. David Eagleman)
Next reel
What is a Chrome extension, really?