How to slow down time

It’s November. Another year’s nearly over. How does each one somehow go quicker than the last? 

The clocks went back an hour last weekend. I sometimes wish they would wind back further to give me a chance to figure out where all the time went. 

We may not be able to control the clock ticking and pages turning on our calendars. However, we have some say over how we perceive remembered time.

Now I have your attention… 

Before I go into more detail, here’s a simple equation:

novelty + intensity = memory creation

memories = time (in retrospect) 

Most of us are fortunate enough to be able to choose whether to seek new adventures or take steps into vulnerable spaces where our emotional experience is colourful and intense. Or, to choose not to. Most of us, therefore, have the power to slow down time in retrospect. 

The more memories we have from a period of time, the longer it seems upon reflection. 

Take a holiday you’ve been on, for example. I bet you can remember loads from your favourite trip. Perhaps you can almost picture every moment. When looking back, I guarantee a week from your holiday feels far longer than your last week at work. The latter you may just remember as a single, familiar still image of you sitting at your desk, almost indistinguishable from the previous week, and the week before that. 

I repeat, in retrospect: memories = time. 

How do you create more memories? Novel and intense experiences. 

Novelty Saturation Theory is the idea that time appears to pass more quickly as we get older because our brains have fewer new experiences to process. 

Last week, Kieran wrote about stepping outside of our comfort zone. When we do this, we grow our knowledge, skills and confidence. That’s amazing!

Even more incredibly, when we step out of our comfort zone, we buy ourselves more of one of the most precious commodities we have: time. When you look back, time is no longer objective, but subjective. 

Try that dance class, go on that trip, tell that story you’re afraid to share. When you look back, would you rather your time appear as a handful of dull, homogeneous images that passed you by or a series of vivid, varied, powerful evocations that fill up a lifetime. 

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