Time speeds up as you grow older. Everyone says it. It’s true.
I used to have a theory about it: maybe it speeds up because I remember less. Maybe I’m more forgetful so there’s less I remember. And the years go faster. Everyone knows children learn faster. Maybe they also learn more, and that’s why time is slower when you’re younger.
Then I took this trip. Somewhere around week 3 time started slowing down. A week felt like a month. Week after week. My life felt so rich, and vibrant, and sloooow.
Now I have a different theory: maybe time speeds up as you get older because there’s not much worth remembering. Every day is sort of the same as the one before. There’s less novelty, fewer new things. There’s less to learn. So there’s less to remember. Fewer landmarks, fewer memories. Faster years.
The secret to slowing down time is to mix up the routines. To do things every day that are different, novel, and inspiring. To keep learning every day. Slowing down time – living richer days – is even better than living a longer life. Kids know how to do it. How to notice a bug on a leaf, or the funny way someone says hello.
The biggest gift of this year has been this “invented time.” The time I didn’t know would exist in my life. Ten years packed into one, with the people I love the most. We say in business that time is the one resource you can’t get more of. I feel like we got more time – free time – this year, with each other.
It’s been a lovely gift.
