How to make time pass slower
Making years feel like years
We’re already in the last quarter of the year. Where did that time go?
You probably have thoughts similar to that and I certainly do too. I’m 25 now and they did not lie when they said that time will start feeling like it goes faster once you hit your mid-twenties. Nicely makes the fear of it all going by too fast kick in. It's kind of a vile thought cycle that life just implemented into our brain’s software.
While time is relative and we certainly will see time going by faster naturally because we look back on more years and have fewer new inputs, there are ways to make time pass slower.
I want you to think back to a year that felt like an actual year. Doesn’t matter if it was three years ago or thirty. I want you to ask yourself what makes that year seem so long? Was it a year when you changed jobs? Did you move in with someone? Did you go to a lot of events? Did you have children or grandchildren that year?
I’m asking those exact questions for a reason. New inputs add filler to a year in our brain. And I don’t mean filler in the negative sense, I mean filler in the sense that you actually remember that year like a fully lived year. You might ask yourself how the hell you’re supposed to add new inputs into your life because you’re already past the middle age mark or you just think you tried it all at 30. To that I say, wake the fuck up, a grandma has ran her first marathon in her 90s somewhere.
For your years to feel like full years, for time to pass slower, you need to fill the time in a year. Go to concerts, try that pottery class, start a book club, learn to crochet the wildest blanket ever. If we follow the idea that a life has around 4000 weeks, there are certainly 4000 new inputs you can get. Especially considering that you’re probably already at least 1000 weeks into your life (I know, the weeks concept is also very dread-inducing lol). You could try cooking two new things per week for the rest of your life and that would probably work, but the habit itself might become a background track of your life. You could go to a cheap local concert once a month. Do a free YouTube class of something every other week. In the time of online courses, there are more skills out there than you could ever think of. Learn a language, travel a country, make a new friend, make art, read a book every month. The more you think about it, the more things you will find that you’ve never done before and a wild amount of them are free or cheap.
This is kind of a context where having ADHD is fun to have. People with ADHD just tend to find new fixations every couple of weeks and will play through them like a game (which can certainly be frustrating). I’ve tried crocheting, writing fanfiction, making my own meditations, and much more. A Jack of all trades gets through life better and has more to look back on in my opinion. Add to that the making of new memories with loved ones and you’re covering most bases.
Do you know what is fun about all of this as well? You can look at past years and make them seem more filled up than you currently think they were. Sit down and write out small travels you went on, which cities you saw, who you met or grew closer with, which new skills you tried and what new topics started to interest you in that year.
This is easier to do from this point on if you track your days or weeks. I personally have two daily apps I use. One for Gratitude Journaling (Presently) and one for noting down my habits as well as my notes of the day (Daylio). On top of that, I have monthly pages in my Journal that reflect back on the last month of memories. I’ve been doing most of this for almost 8 years now and it’s wild to be able to open a page and see that in March 2019 I did three different things I didn’t even remember until opening the page. So the tracking also doubles as a way to feel a little bit less like your life is just coasting by.
I also recommend daily tracking of activities and monthly tracking of memories to people who have episodic depression, because I usually do way more during my depressed phases than I realize. Even if it is “just” something as simple as having a calming call with a friend and eating really great food. An extra thing I also try to do more but often forget is taking pictures of the small things daily and adding them to my daily notes.
All this tracking takes me 4-5 minutes in the evening and about 30 minutes at the end of the month to look over and note down in writing. Highly recommended.
So where do you start now with filling your year to make your year feel lived in?
Here are some top ideas:
Set up a call with someone you haven’t spoken to in a while
Find a painting tutorial you like and try to emulate it
Start a free online course about a topic that interests you
Start learning the basics of a new language with an app
Pick out some recipes to try out over the next weeks and schedule the cooking time
Try out a new hairstyle that needs a braid you’ve never done
Finally do that project in your home that you’ve been putting off
Learn about a niche topic on YouTube (highly recommend ecology as a topic)
Try crafting something useful like a fan or a penholder
Look for and RSVP for that event in the next bigger city
Finally learn to sew some of the basics with a sewing machine
A big reminder for doing new things is that even the small kind of boldness needs a bit of a “Just do it, don’t think” approach, mixed with actually scheduling the new thing you wanna do. It’s easier to skip an important new input if no time is set aside for it.
This is my chaotic guide to making time pass slower. It sometimes will still feel like there is a fast-forward button I can’t see, but having these tips has given me an anchor for those moments and I hope it has also given you one.
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