Time is Going So Fast: Thoughts on Dying & Living

Jul 30

I've been thinking a lot about dying lately.

I always enjoy seasonal transitions. Right now, I'm appreciating the shift from spring to summer. Then it hit me: If I have 36 more years to live, I only get to enjoy this transition 36 more times. Just 36.

That's fewer than the number of fries in a McDonald's small order, and I can plow through those at a frightening rate.

My psychologist told me that we measure time in the same way we experience forces on a highway. When we're caught up in the day-to-day and cruising at a relatively fixed velocity, we don't notice or feel how fast we're going. We only notice our speed when we feel the force of acceleration or deceleration pressing against our bodies and forcing us into our seats.

He mentioned that many of his clients feel like they've been going at a steady velocity for decades. Suddenly, they're asking themselves, "Where did the time go? I had so many things I wanted to do."

Programming accelerators and decelerators into our lives enables us to feel and experience the passage of time.

Decelerators often happen to us; they are life's unexpected (and unpleasant) events that change us, like major catastrophes or painful events such as losing a parent.

Accelerators are positive moments. They mostly tend to happen when we are young: birthdays, graduations, falling in love for the first time, getting our driver's license, going to school for the first time...

In the latter stage of life, accelerators tend not to happen to us as frequently, leading some to believe we cannot experience a fulfilling life after 35. But that's not true if we program accelerators into our lives.

I've actually started to track my accelerators as a quarterly KPI. For example, this quarter, one of my KPIs was to surprise my partner six times.

Need some help? Think of whom you care about. Now think about some cherished memories with those folks. Of those memories, which ones are easiest to move the needle on today?

For example, my ninth grade teacher took me aside and told me I'm special. That sticks with me 24 years later. And it was just a few words.

I always appreciate ideas of how to create accelerators. Please share some of your favourite moments via email or on my LinkedIn post about this topic.