Time Perception/ Why Some Days Fly and Others Crawl(#331)

Ever notice how an hour at the dentist feels longer than a weekend at the beach?
Or how childhood summers felt endless, but now you blink and it’s already October and freakin cold?

That’s the strange magic of time perception — it doesn’t tick by equally for everyone. It bends, stretches, and speeds up depending on how we live.

The good news? Once you understand it, you can use it to make your days feel fuller, richer, and more ridiculously enjoyable.

Time Isn’t Just Measured — It’s Experienced

We often treat time like a resource: spend it, save it, waste it. But time isn’t a bank account — it’s a perception.

Our brains don’t actually feel time passing; they record experiences.
The more new, meaningful, or emotional moments we create, the more “time” our brains log. How ya livin’?!

That’s why vacations seem long but routines blur together. My vacations go quickly.
Novelty slows time down. Repetition speeds it up.

If every day feels the same, it’s not that time is flying — it’s that your brain has stopped noticing.

The More You Notice, The More You Live

When you start paying attention, time expands.

That moment with your hot water with lemon, the laughter in a conversation, the way sunlight hits the trees — when you really see it, it lasts longer.

Mindfulness isn’t just about peace; it’s about perception.

Life doesn’t need more hours. It needs more presence.

Because when you’re truly here — not scrolling, rushing, or worrying — a single minute can feel infinite. Our minds are like a time machine, in the past or in the future.

Busyness Isn’t the Same as Fullness

Our culture worships busyness. We pack our calendars, check off lists, and brag about being “crazy busy” as if exhaustion were a medal of honor. What’s up with that anyways?

But busyness warps time. It makes hours blur into each other until days vanish in a fog of “getting things done.”

Fullness, on the other hand, is when your time feels alive.

It’s not about how much you do — it’s about how much you feel what you do.

When you align your time with what matters — growth, love, creation, connection — your days don’t just pass. They mean something.

Why Time Speeds Up as We Age

Here’s the science part (don’t worry, it’s friendly science):
When you’re a kid, almost everything is new — new faces, new experiences, new discoveries. Your brain works overtime recording those memories, so time feels slow and abundant.

As adults, routine takes over. Your brain starts to filter the familiar. Fewer new memories = fewer “time markers.” That’s why months can vanish before you know it.

The antidote? Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep exploring. Keep surprising yourself.

Each time you step outside your comfort zone, you stretch your sense of time — and your sense of self.

In the End…

You can’t control time, but you can shape your experience of it.

Slow down enough to notice the small miracles.
Say yes to new things, even when they scare you.
Create moments worth remembering, not just routines worth repeating.

Because the length of your life isn’t measured in years — it’s measured in how alive you felt while living them.

Time isn’t the enemy. It’s the canvas.
And every day you choose presence, curiosity, and growth, you add color, depth, and texture to the masterpiece that is your life.

So take a deep breath. Look around. Be here and present.

Because this moment — right now — is time well spent.