It was August and we all arrived at school. We said hi to people we hadn’t seen all summer, we set up our rooms, we bought our books and we were pumped for the semester.
The days always felt like years, but somehow the weeks were zipping by. All of a sudden, the curse of midterms fell upon us. Then the last tailgate of the season. Then Thanksgiving. Then (gag) finals. What happened? How did it happen? Where did our semester go?
As we make our way through our educational careers, we are continually baffled with how quickly the years go by. We can never get a handle on how elementary school felt like it lasted forever and high school/college seems to pass with just a few blinks. Believe it or not, there is a reason for that.
When we were in elementary school, we were six years old. By the time we got to fifth grade, we were 10. Those five years of schooling were 50 percent of our lives at that point. At the time, it was what made up the majority of our memories, so it seemed like it lasted essentially our whole lifetime.
Now, take the four years of college plus your senior year of high school. That’s the same amount of time, five years of schooling and education. However, we enter that spread at 18 years old and leave it at 22. Those five years are only a quarter of our life.
Since it is a smaller chunk relative to the amount of time we have been alive up to each of those points, the more recent years seem to go by quicker. They are just less significant in the grand scheme of time.
So, for those of you always looking for a conspiracy, the speeding up of time has nothing to do with global warming, or the increasing use of technology, or the way the world is now versus how “simple” it used to be.
It is unfortunate that the times we want to remember most seem to be the most fleeting. No one wants to elongate their awkward stage or the years you spent fumbling around, unaware of the world and the magnitude of your existence within it. We want to make college, and our twenties and thirties last as long as they possibly can. We want to have homework be the most of our worries and appreciate what it’s like to go out with friends four nights a week, not thinking about anyone but ourselves.
While we can’t change the facts, or the way our minds handle the passing of time, we can become aware. By recognizing this harsh and unfair reality, we can actively try to appreciate our time more. We can try and squeeze every possible ounce out of every moment.
Until someone can invent a pill that will make life slow down a bit, this seems like the best option. The next time you’re doing something, anything really, that makes you love where you are, just try not to take it for granted, it will be gone before you know it.
