Did 2023 Just Fly By You?

Do you recall the time when you were 10 years old, and you used to wait eagerly for the summer break so that you could go on that vacation to your cousins’ place out of the city or country? The train or air travel, all-nighters with midnight snacks and sneaking scary movies while your parents slept. Do you recollect when the two or three weeks ended you would keenly long for the year to pass till summer break came back again? Time passed so slowly back then while you waited, didn’t it? Exam week would drag, school would seem sluggish. But the dance festival and sports day would come and go at jet speed. How you wished you could speed up that time, grow up, be independent and do all the things those grown-up kids used to do?

How similar is it today? Or is it the opposite? Did 2023 just fly by you?

Do you notice that more often than before, time picks the pace of a Ferrari today? Usually it seems to fly when you’re having fun and drags when you are bored. But the emotional perception of our time is so vast, it surprises us when we see the clock and wonder, “Oh, I had two hours to finish this essay, and three hours have passed and I’m only halfway through! Is this clock running right?” Or another time when you were with a friend at the park and suddenly you see that your mum is here to pick you up. “I just came here, mom, it’s not even been thirty minutes, you promised me an hour and a half.” Mum calmly reminds you, “It’s been almost half hour over ninety minutes, dear.”

You were probably bored with your essay and essentially time had slowed down to the point that it put you in a daydreaming zone that you lost track and speeded it up fantasizing about something nice. And whilst with your friend, time together brought on so much happiness that the dopamine rush in your brain soared high and you did not want the delight to end; so, you wanted more time. Your brain insisted that the ninety minutes flew by.

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