Time....

How fast has this year gone? We hear that lament from friends, neighbours, work colleagues and family on an all too regular basis. Some are thinking of Christmas with joy as the past two Christmases have had COVID-19 restrictions that impacted travellers, businesses, and families. Some may be thinking of Christmas with trepidation due to financial worries and the ever-increasing cost of living.

Apart from ageing being a reason that time seems to fly by faster each year, there is also a theory that stress can make it feel like time is passing us by. Think back over the past year – have you been under more stress than usual? Stress can be due to relationships, money worries, work or school issues, medical problems and even climatic conditions.

According to Ideapod, time pressure to meet deadlines can creep up on us and make it feel like we lost time in the process. Have you ever had a project due and as the date approached asked yourself: where did that time go? You’re so preoccupied stressing about the deadline and trying to get the work done that you’re not paying as much attention to the passing of time. Another reason for time rushing by is monotony. Are you stuck in a rut? Schedules and routine is great but sometimes it has the effect of making each day blur into another. When you are following the same schedule each and every day, it’s easy to feel like time is passing by you quicker than you can count. But, why? The monotony of your routine makes it hard to distinguish one day from the next. Everything simply blends into one as you lose track of the days. Routine is a great thing to have in your life. But it can also help to mix things up every now and then. (ideapod.com)

Are you a time stressor? A time stressor is someone who is always preoccupied with time and ensuring you are never late or behind on any task or meeting. Believe it or not, this can cause time anxiety. Ideapod explains that this is another reason you might be feeling like time is just speeding by you in life. Time anxiety is something that can show up in a number of different ways. Ask yourself these questions:

Do you always feel the need to rush?
Do you find yourself in a mood when you’re running late?
Do you feel uneasy when you don’t get all your tasks at hand done?
Do you often think that you missed out on opportunities?

If this sounds like you, then there’s a good chance that you might be suffering from time anxiety. You’re so anxious about time and what you can achieve in the time you have, that you feel like it’s passing by you all too quickly. Which it probably is! A fixation on time tends to make it pass by even faster – ironically making it even harder for you to achieve these goals you’ve set for yourself.(ideapod.com)

Another fascinating theory around time is that the older we get, the faster time passes us by. Sounds implausible? Well, Psychology Today has a great explanation for this phenomenon. According to Psychology Today, a typical explanation that might explain some of this perception is the simple fact that for a 10-year-old, one year represents 10 percent of their entire life and even 15 to 20 percent of their conscious memory. But one year for a 50-year-old represents less than 2 percent of their recallable life. Thus, those long days in school and almost endless summers of grade schooler’s childhoods, and the rapidly fleeting days, weeks, and months that most adults experience.
Indeed, if you ask a young child to sit quietly, close their eyes, and state when a minute has passed, most children will report a minute has elapsed in 40 seconds or less. Run the same experiment with adults and seniors, and they will likely report a minute has passed in 60 to 70 seconds. Hence, children's brains "beat" faster than adult brains, thus allowing them to have more conscious experiences in a given unit of objective time. This, in turn, leads to the subjective passage of time moving more slowly for children than it does for adults. (psychologytoday.com)

If you do have time anxiety, feel a need to rush and feel uneasy when you don’t achieve everything you planned to do, there are ways to help manage this. Firstly, talk to your doctor or local health service for advice and support. You can also work on mindfulness, aim to create more meaningful time in your life and explore your goals and how to achieve them.

If your life generally feels meaningful, you probably won’t feel so stressed as time passes. Most people want to believe they’re living their best life, and spending time on things that really matter can go a long way toward accomplishing this. (healthline.com)

Make the most of every minute, every second and make time in your day for enjoyable pursuits or just make time for yourself. A to do list that is easily achievable, connecting with others, talking to your health provider and trying some mindfulness activities can help us all to stress less about time.

References and resources:
https://ideapod.com/reasons-this-year-went-by-so-fast/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-well/202011/why-time-goes-faster-we-age
https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/time-anxiety#underlying-issues