Spring in Technicolour. Photo © Karethe Linaae
I've never been a conspiracy theorist, but has anyone else noticed that somebody or something is messing with our time?
As a youngster, hearing older people complaining about how fast time passed, I wondered what their problem was since my time felt infinite. But now that I have become one of the ‘oldies’ myself, I couldn’t agree more. I can swear that the Earth is spinning faster and that all universally accepted time segments have been shortened without anyone informing humankind. Forget seconds, minutes, hours and days. A week is nothing anymore because as soon as Monday is over, it’s already Friday. And the year that began a nanosecond ago is already in its second quarter.
Intergalactic movements? Photo © Karethe Linaae
Our age certainly has something to do with our concept of time. For a one-year-old, that year is their lifetime. A child turning five will experience the year as 1/5 of their life, while for someone turning 100, those 365 days will represent 1/100 of their life, so it's no wonder that years feel shorter as we grow older.
Eve. Photo © Karethe Linaae
I do not doubt that the 21st century’s unstoppable technological advances, information flood and endless pressure to perform make our time feel more compressed. There is also more light in our existence, and light - which equals information - increases the feeling of acceleration. At the same time, there is evidence of an acceleration in the Earth’s ‘pulse’ (the so-called Schumann resonance), making time on Earth pass faster. Not to mention the universe’s expansion, the influence of dark matter, the shift of the poles and other forces most cannot even fathom. In other words, this feeling that many of us sense may have a justified reason to be. Furthermore, it may explain why so many people are always in a hurry. Perhaps the body is trying to synchronise with the Earth’s accelerated pulse?
Into space. Photo © Karethe Linaae
What to do? The great Einstein concluded that time is relative, and the only value of time lies in what we do while it passes. So instead of worrying about global acceleration, maybe we should stop and feel April in the air, listen to the birds or talk to each other without finding excuses for why we ‘have’ to run.
Larger than life. Photo © Karethe Linaae
The Spanish have an expression that goes Hay más tiempo que vida, which means that there is more time than there is life. For humans living here and now, time is practically infinite, but as most have realised, our life is not. Therefore, we are better off cherishing our moments and ensuring we follow Einstein’s advice and do worthwhile things while our precious time speeds along.
Just do it! Photo © Karethe Linaae