Why Just Change the Clock When We Can Change Our Lives

The Return to Standard Time

This weekend is the return to standard time. On the upside, we all get an extra hour of sleep.

On the downside, it will be dark an hour earlier, and we have to change all our clocks again. Do not forget the one on the coffee maker. Or the car.

For me, there is the irritating chore of syncing the microwave and stove. I know. It is borderline OCD that they have to be in absolute sync.

My Issue with Change

Clearly, I have a bit of an issue with change. Not all change. I love the change of the seasons.

Fall and spring are my favorite seasons. I have been known to randomly rearrange furniture out of boredom, although that little exercise has slowed down as I have gotten older.

Senseless and unexpected change jolts and unsettles me, like scrambling the clock. As with millions of others, twice a year I wail WHY?

Around eight p.m. on Saturday night, I will dutifully wander around the house adjusting the various clocks, then go to bed hoping the ones that are supposed to automatically adjust do so.

Aging in the Mirror

I am also jarred occasionally when I glance in the mirror and see someone I did not expect, like my mother or, worse, my grandmother. When did they move into my body?

It is okay to hear one of them when I speak, but to see the facial lines, eyelids, and hair, not to mention body shape, makes me want to turn the clock back. Way back.

We do not get to do that, do we?

When Time Feels Faster

Our oldest grandchild has started college this year. For some inexplicable reason, the eighteen years it took for her to get to this point went so much faster than it did for her mother.

Yes, I know. Time goes faster the older you get. But we all know that is not true. A minute is a minute, and a day is a day. Time does not move at any different pace, regardless of your age.

A child and an 85-year-old man have the same 24-hour day, the same number of days in a week, the exact number of weeks in a year.

So tell me, why does time seem to go so much faster for us as we age? Perspective? Value? Perhaps a combination of both.

Conferences That Stretched the Clock

I recall a few conferences I have attended. None were more than two full days, plus a couple of short evening and morning sessions.

I felt, however, that I had been at a weeklong conference by the time it was over. In what I learned, the connections I made, and how exhausted I was by the end, time felt fuller.

Why was that? Why, as a mature adult, did time slow down so much?

I was filling my mind with new experiences and information. I was like a child in a completely new environment being given loads of stimuli and interaction. Time slowed down for me.

Why Time Seems to Speed Up

When we are young, our experiences are, for the most part, new. We have a limited number of memories stored and are virtually creating them.  Therefore, time seems to move at a relatively slow pace.

Psychologists have determined that as we age and we are merely experiencing the same things over and over again, time seems to move more rapidly. The brain has less to do to store the memories, as the memory is already more or less recorded. It is much like an overlay. There is also the fact that when we are young, the years behind us are considerably less than those before us. The opposite is true as we age.

Try This Simple Experiment

Try an experiment. Reroute a drive to a place you normally go, like work or church. Same time to get there, but a different route.

The drive will feel longer only because your brain will be recording different stimuli.

Small Ways to Add Newness

If we want to "slow time down," we need to do that very thing in our lives. Are we in a rut? Do we do the same thing day in and day out? When was the last time we tried something new?

It is as easy as eating out at a new restaurant once a week. Or learning to cook something new. Taking a walk in a different neighborhood than your own. Visit a library and see what a new author has to offer. Grab your camera, head out to a nature trail, and take pictures.

Be creative. Do something different. At least once a week until it becomes a habit.

Lift Your Head

We are only given a certain amount of time in this life, and we do not know how much that time is. If we rush through it with our heads down, we will not see the finish line until we have crossed it.

Let us lift our heads and look around. We may not be able to turn our clocks back, but we can maybe slow it down a bit.

A Friendly Reminder

Oh, but seriously, do not forget to set your clock back this Saturday or you will feel silly Sunday morning.