How to slow down time

When you're a kid, time feels slow. Summer vacations feel amazing and long, it feels different to go to school, your best friends hair is different

An academic school year feels like a lifetime, as chapters of the textbook come to an end. But somewhere along the way, the years start to blur.

You look up, and it's July again. Another year gone, and you're not quite sure what the hell happened in past 6 months

People say it's because time speeds up as we age. But that’s not quite right. Time always moves at the same pace. What changes is how much of it you remember.

The brain doesn’t store time. It stores events. And it only records events that feel novel or emotionally intense. Everything else is filed under “routine” and discarded.

This is why your first day at a new job feels so vivid, and your 217th day feels like nothing. Why you remember your friend getting drunk on the Goa trip, even if it was years ago, but can’t recall what you did two Tuesdays ago.

The structure of modern adult life, predictable, repetitive, optimised - has a side effect we rarely talk about. It makes life forgettable. And forgettable lives feel shorter.

The paradox is that the more efficient we become, the more life compresses. If every day is the same, your brain stops noticing them. Days blur into weeks, weeks into years.

There’s only one reliable way to slow time: do things worth remembering.

Say yes to things that are new, even if they’re uncomfortable. Especially if they are. Your brain doesn’t bother storing the comfortable parts. It stores the edges, where you felt alive, uncertain, surprised.

A full life isn’t full of hours. It’s full of memories.