In any circumstance, time can be a friend or a foe. When taking a math test, you listen to each second going by, knowing that you only have so much time left. But when you’re hanging out with friends you hope that time moves as slowly as it can. In actuality, people distort their perception of time to fit their own circumstances.
As a freshman, I awaited the day I graduated high school. Four years is longer than a few seconds, but now being a senior, I question how four years went by quickly. Freshman year history, I sat right above a clock. Whenever there was a silence or pause in class, I could hear the tick of each second. One minute until the bell rang everyone would start packing. Looking at my watch I would count down the seconds: 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21 … . As you read this, minutes will go by and you won’t feel the difference between then and now.
As a senior, I still await June 2026, the month I graduate. Although the difference this time is that I don’t have to wait four years, rather a few months. Yet, I still have the same yearning for time to magically speed up like I did as a freshman. I began wondering if my indifference in feeling for time applied to others. Technically, as humans we define time as linear. One moment passing as another is occurring. But it seems that as individuals, we have the power to trick ourselves into believing time goes by fast or slow.
It seems that when things are static, like watching paint dry or having no internet, the human mind thinks no time is passing. In fact five minutes feels like twenty because nothing is occupying the brain. Essentially, we aren’t distracted. But, when we are watching an action movie or playing a sport, we know the difference between the before and after. This is because we have an event that is progressively creating a memory or distracting the brain.
So, as I try to figure out how four years occurred so quickly, I must realize how I spent those four years. As classes, friendships, and new experiences all filled my days so fully, I didn’t notice how quickly they were carrying me forward.
A day sounds short while a year feels long. In my perspective, when we put it into practice it is the complete opposite. I can say the past four years have gone by quickly because I’ve already passed them. I’ve lived it and am now in the present. While when I am in today, hours drag on as I do homework or lay in my bed. Thus, it never seems I have a grasp of time. I purposefully try to make it go by fast or slow to either avoid a moment or allow myself to bask in it.
Scientifically, time is moving at a constant speed. We are all living in the present, and have all lived in the past. So as I look towards graduation, I understand that the speed of time depends on how I fill it. So I encourage you to ask yourself: how do you experience time? Are you taking a math test or are you watching your favorite sports team?
