Time is talked about constantly. When people talk to others about their kids growing up, they always insert the phrase, “it goes so fast.” People always talk about “not having enough time” and “wishing they had more time”. Time does seem to fly by. Here’s my little thought as to why. I should probably give some credit here to someone, but I honestly can’t remember if this is something I heard or something that just came to mind. Here’s the theory:
DAYS
When you are young, everything is in terms of days. Snow day. School day. Satur-day. Fun day. Etc. Each day seems to be filled to the max and as a result, kids have 365 units in their year to work with.
WEEKS
In late high school / college, life begins to switch to weeks. Spring Break Week. Greek Week. Final Exam Week. Week off. Etc. This age group effectively cuts down the number of units of the year to 52 to work with. 52 weeks goes by much more quickly than 365 days.
MONTHS
Then we become an adult and all of sudden we’re saying things like, “oh, it would be great to get together and hang out with you guys – June is shot, but maybe we could set up something in July?!” or “When we get through October, things will slow down.” Thinking in terms of months takes adults’ time down to 12 units in a calendar year. And 12 units per year goes by so much more quickly than 52 or 365. That’s why time flies!
Interestingly, when I tell people this theory, they continue the line of thinking and assume that when you are really up in age, you think in terms of years or decades. But I haven’t found that to be the case. Somewhere along the way, the connections with people and the desire to leave a lasting legacy moves the older folks back to a “day” mentality. Each day resurfaces as a precious gift. For example, they will keep a full day free just to meet with someone in the afternoon.
Since I have had this on my mind, I have tried to live like a “DAY” person. I want to take actions to make today count. Of course, I want to plan ahead and think long term on some things, but I don’t want time to fly that quickly.
So, I think I’ll go eat lunch at the McDonalds Playland with my five year old today. As it was said in the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, “We’ve got some Diem to Carpe!”