Why does time seem to be slipping away faster?

I can’t believe the NFL season started.

I’m excited it’s Blue Friday, but I’m also surprised it’s already here.

I seems like every other post on my Facebook feed is a back-to-school photo.

The calendar says September, but I simply can’t believe it. Then
again, that’s the feeling I have every year at about this time.

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There are some interesting studies about this phenomenon,
and while the perception is real, the proposed reasons why are mixed.

The first theory that seems to get the most traction is that time is a
logarithmic scale, not a linear scale. Great, what does that mean?
Basically, when you’re two years old, a year is half your life. When you’re 52,
it’s not even 4 percent. So it seems like time is accelerating because you
are basically comparing it to all the time you’ve had and it’s a
smaller and smaller percentage. I get it, but this one is not that
satisfying to me.

Next is the theory of memorable events. In this case, psychologists
theorize that we are gauging the passage of time by the number of
events we remember from that time period. When you’re a kid, there are
a lot of big firsts. First game, first kiss, first car, and so on. So
there’s a lot of touch points packed into every time interval. As you
get older, you grind out a lot of the same activities day after day.
Go to work, come home, repeat. You experience fewer and fewer
memorable events and therefore time appears to have gone by faster.
This theory seems to make sense.

The last category is biology. There are a few things going on here,
one is that our biological clock and metabolism slow as we age while
time is staying the same. That difference make time appear to speed
up. The other bio reason is stress. The constant feeling that there is
not enough time to get everything done on our lists may be perceived
as time escaping your grasp.

Maybe it’s a blend of all of these things. Whatever the reason, don’t
take your time for granted. As literal and figurative storms swirl all
around us lately, take a moment this weekend and do something that
makes you feel alive. Go find a memorable moment and see if time slows
down for you. Even if its just for an afternoon.