When asked why it feels like time speeds up when you age, the common response is something like:
When you’re young, you’ve only lived a short amount of time compared to how long you will actually live. When you’re older, you’re close to the end of your life and the “used percentage” of your life is higher.
While this is mathematically true, it doesn’t explain your perception of time passing. To answer this, we need to understand something fundamental about how our brain works.
Our brain is basically a threat-assessment machine. It’s alert when there’s a potential threat, and calm when there isn’t.
As you age, the series of motions you go through becomes more and more familiar to your brain. So it decides what you’re doing right now is not a threat and takes a nap.
This is why you often forget your daily commute to work or whether you locked your front door – your brain is on autopilot.
One way to fight this is to be actively aware of the moment. Resist the urge to do something familiar and get out of your comfort zone. Walk a slightly different path on an otherwise common route. Pay active attention to the little things.
The takeaway
To live a longer life, live in the now. Stop dwelling so much on the past or worrying about the future. You’re alive RIGHT NOW.
In the words of Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why they call it the present.”