I’ve never really been one to make new years resolutions, but this year I actually gave it some serious thought. I decided that this year I would make at least one real resolution. This meant figuring out what I really want in life, or at least what I wanted for the year. The resolution I chose was to not take anything for granted. Not the good stuff, and just as importantly, not the bad stuff. Nothing.
I made this my resolution because no matter how amazing (or difficult) life can get, I have the tendency to get used to it. Maybe it’s something built into human nature— to accept the good, accept the bad and carry on. Or as the Brits say “keep calm, carry on.”
In all that carrying on, there isn’t much room for enjoyment, for love, or much emotion at all. If you keep calm, you might avoid some stress, but without getting angry or stressed then the good stuff doesn’t mean so much. Results of hard work don’t seem so rewarding, or even lose their meaning entirely in the face of total calm.
But these are just thoughts and musings. Just words. Let me put them in perspective.
In 2010, after graduating from university I moved to Norway to live with my wonderful girlfriend. I had just finished the book of my 365 Days photography which funded my plane ticket over and I was pumped about getting a sweet job with my shiny new degree in my shiny new city, living together with the girl of my dreams instead of almost 5000 miles away from her.
Well things didn’t go exactly according to plan, big surprise, and I ended up having to wait much longer than I expected for my visa which would allow me to work. In fact, I’m still waiting (though hopefully just for a few more days, fingers crossed). This left me with a lot of free time on my hands, more time than I’ve had since I studied abroad (that’s another story for another time).
In that time, I had the chance to practice ukulele, watch a season of Dexter, and to really think about what I wanted and where I was going. I decided to consistently teach myself new skills starting with computer science. I had a burning desire to not waste any moments of my free time, lest I fall into a lazy comatose state of vegetation. In other words, I was scared and I was going to spend every minute busy so I didn’t have to think about it. And I didn’t think about it. Instead, I just got used to my situation. As soon as that happened, the days flew by. Boom. Over.
And now to deliver on the title:
Have you heard the saying that time seems to go faster by the older you get? Feels like it, doesn’t it? Ever wonder why that is?
Think about it like this, do you remember when you were a kid and driving 20 or 30 minutes to grandma’s house felt like an eternity. Grandma lived A MILLION MILES AWAY. Kids don’t take anything for granted. They don’t have enough experience to realize the trip will take just as long as it ever has and that wining and complaining won’t change anything. They see all the scenery whizzing by the window and measure each moment as it passes.
As adults, we see 30 minutes in the car as nothing. We drive hours to work every day as a routine. We take for granted the passage of time, and train ourselves to be indifferent to it. We take for granted everything that passes by because we’ve seen it before or at least it’s not so different from something else that we’ve seen before.
People tend to think of time in increments. As soon as you’re 5 or 6 years old you’re thrown into schools where each semester, each year classes change, classmates change, rules change. Every year is distinct and meaningful. The passage of time is easy to measure.
When you’re at a dead end 9-5 job, 20 years can feel as fast as a semester of college (or so I’m told). How do we change that? How do we slow down our racing perception of time?
Simple, slow down. Create measurable increments for yourself in your personal life, in your work life, in your hobbies. And most of all, don’t take anything for granted.
