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| Large number of people have these experiences |
Have
you ever had a déjà vu experience? And do you feel that time is now passing by
like a speeding bullet? Well, combine the two of those, and you have the past
six weeks of our lives. September saw Steve and me experiencing déjà vu from our
earlier years where we both traveled and never saw each other. We were lucky to
be able to combine work with visiting family and friends while managing to
juggle our trips so that when one arrived home in the evening one day, the
other left the following morning. No cat sitter was needed. We spent the whole
six weeks like passing ships in the night.
There’s
a lot to be said for not spending 24/7 with your spouse. When you do catch up,
there’s so much to talk about and share. September seems to be our busiest time
for work, it’s also our anniversary and my birthday. This year, Steve was in
England for our anniversary, unusual because I’m usually the one away. For my
birthday a week later, I was working an exhibition in Philadelphia. But wait –
on my birthday last year I was working the same exhibition, but in Las Vegas. A
year ago the clients gave me a small birthday cake and sang to me while this
year I had a bite-sized piece of red velvet cake at the final reception. Mmm,
birthday cake - déjà vu!
We
made a point of seeing daughters and grandsons while on trips to the East Coast
but we travelled separate weeks. It brought back memories of traveling back
from the UK to see them – time with them was too short, but much more focused
than when we lived close to them. Again - déjà vu.
All
of this led me to lament that “time is now speeding by too quickly as I get
older”, but I wondered – what makes it seem so? Of course, being a Google
addict, I had to “google” it. The “experts” (whoever they are - scientists) all
agree that time appears to go by faster when you are older, but they aren't
sure why. There are theories that say it’s because you have more new experiences
when you are younger and these stand out in your memory, so time doesn’t seem
to go as fast. These same experts, speculate that there aren’t as many
“memorable events” when you get older, which makes time seem to drag. But
wouldn’t that mean as a child you race from one memorable experience to the
next, so time goes by fast? The experts then go on to say that for experiences
such as a young student being off school for a summer break, times slow down,
and summer seems endless. Haven’t they just contradicted themselves? I know
from my experiences that growing up on a busy, working farm in the middle of
nowhere with no one to play with, the summers stretched endlessly, but nothing
memorable happened. Time seemed to drag by.
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| In the blink of an eye! |
One
article that I read by a professor said “speeding time is not an illusion:
almost all of us faced far steeper learning curves when we were young. Most
adults do not explore and learn about the world the way they did when they were
young; adult life lacks the constant discovery and endless novelty of childhood.”
Not so for me now because now I constantly have new experiences and learn new
things but time is still rushing by too fast.
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| Columbus was busy discovering America during the Borgia times |
A
recent example of learning lots of new things and truly enjoying it is that while
Steve was away, I took the opportunity to catch up with my historical fiction
reading and watching the original, and extremely racy, version of the Borgia
series (the one released in Italy). Of course, I had to go to Google several
times and read up on the history of the characters and have to say the writers
were tremendously historically correct. I learned volumes about that period in
the Vatican, and about the wars between Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Can’t
wait for the next series to come out on Netflix!
My
reading selection also focused on history, but I was reading about the Norsemen
(later called Vikings) invading England and a bit of the history of the Romans.
It’s normal for me to have several books on the go at once. Again I went to
Google several times to learn more, so I was learning loads. I was also reading
about cholesterol in the diet. The cholesterol book wasn't a fun read but was
educational. It’s a wide range, I know but at least the historical books
covered the same time frame, from the late 700’s through the 900’s.
I
want to leave you with something to ponder as your days flash by in a blur:
“Our
life is made up of time. Our days are measured in hours;
our pay measured by
those hours; our knowledge is measured
by years.... And yet time eventually
runs out and you wonder
in your heart of hearts if those seconds, minutes,
hours, days,
weeks, months, years and decades were being spent the best
way
they possibly could.”
―
Cecelia Ahern
I
also want to recommend a wonderful TED Talk entitled “How to Live Passionately
– No Matter Your Age”. It’s a must listen to and I can guarantee author Isabel
Allende will make you think about your life. Here’s the link:
Are you living passionately?
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