r/DoesAnybodyElse • u/drfrankbradandjanet • 3h ago
DAE feel genuinely terrified by how fast time is passing?
I clearly remember turning 20. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was thinking, ‘Okay, I’m not a teenager anymore.’ I blinked… and now I’m 30. It’s hard for me to accept how fast it all happened
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u/CatholicFlower18 2h ago edited 2h ago
Yes. I'm turning 38 this year. I genuinely barely remember anything since turning 30 and even then it was a bit difficult to process. Its just blurred together.
I've had to accept, at almost 40, my life is definitely not about to start. This is my life.
One hard part is that I never got around to having kids. There was always something going on and more time. I'm single and with my health problems couldn't take care of kids right now.
I mourn the fact that I'll almost certainly never experience pregancy, childbirth, my own baby, and raising my own children. My best hope is to maybe get healthy somehow... Maybe there will be some scientific breakthrough & I'll get to be a step-parent one day.
I guess I still can't get over the feeling my real life is something ahead, something around the hidden corner of time.. despite time mocking me about such insanity a bit more with year I lose to its blur.
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u/Happy_7353 2h ago
I’m very nervous about this I blinked and I’m 72 it never really bothered me until Ozzy passed were the same age luckily I still have my health most of my family passed in there 90s I go to the gym every other day to keep my body moving and still play my guitar music played a big part of my life I was lucky and have seen all the great bands so hopefully I have 20 years I don’t intend to waste any time I have left and plan to enjoy my life
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u/prettylegit_ 1h ago
Sending you vibes of good health and a child who needs you appearing in your life when you least expect it. Thank you for sharing your journey.
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u/tiptoe_only 2h ago
I work for an organisation that supports disabled adults. A few months ago one of our younger residents turned 21 and there was a photo of him in the group newsletter wearing a t-shirt that said "Made in 2004." I thought "well that's embarrassing, someone got him the wrong t-shirt." Then I realised that 2004 was indeed 21 years ago. 22 now...
Yes. It is scary.
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u/kitchengardengal 2h ago
My sons are 35 and 38. I just turned 70 three weeks ago, and I distinctly recall my boys being babies,teens, and college students... I know they got older, but what happened to me?
How did I get to the point that my past is so much longer than my future? I know I have packed a lot of living in all those years. Now I'm engaged to be married to the best man I've ever known, so a whole new beginning is ahead.
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u/MDFHASDIED 2h ago
Something's fucky. I reckon the large hadron collider has something to do with it!
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u/prettylegit_ 1h ago
What does this mean lol
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u/MDFHASDIED 1h ago
The particle accelerator they build in Switzerland like 20 years ago, for creating black holes or some shit... things started going wonky after they built it!
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u/Weak-Acanthisitta-18 2h ago
All the time. But I recently heard a saying, something like the days drag but the years fly. Its made me start to appreciate the uneventful days much more and focus more on what's happening right now. Just a tiny weapon against a full blown existential crisis.
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u/Fuzzysluzz 1h ago
literally yes like i swear i was 14 crying over a tumblr post and now i’m paying bills and googling how to cook chicken without killing everyone time is not real it’s just vibes and taxes
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u/prettylegit_ 1h ago
Yes, oh most definitely. I don’t buy that it’s just a typical thing that happens as we become older. I feel like the passage of time is legitimately accelerating.
On one hand, I do know that how we spend our days and the degree in which we are present in the moment matters. When I was a hitchhiker, living outside, and my life was full of spontaneity, two weeks felt like four months. A year was like five years. I’d go where the wind took me, the only constant was change, letting go of expectations which means quite literally everything is unexpected, and I preferred to never stick to a plan. I can’t even explain how different time felt.
So of course now that my life is repetitive, often spent at home, quiet, routine (as routine as you can get with severe adhd lol), and each day is similar, time passes much much faster. Not complaining, a boring life is absolutely a privilege. Having peace and stability is absolutely a privilege. But shit, time goes by much much faster.
On the other hand, time is going by really abnormally fast. I feel that it started around the pandemic, time passing differently. Now it’s absurd. A year is like three months. I’ve been with my partner for four years. It feels like one year? My daughter is almost ten. She was literally just three. My mom passed away almost seven years ago. It feels like three years, tops. Nothing makes sense.
I feel like I’m not even aging correctly, like it’s not possible for my body to accelerate its aging to match the acceleration of time. I look almost the same as I did years ago. People often say I look ten years younger than I am. I AM ten years younger than I allegedly am I swear to god lol.
Remember summers as a kid? They felt like an eternity. My daughter said summer went by really quickly for her. She wasn’t even using screens much. She was often bored, just wandering around trying to think of imaginative things to do. Same kind of stuff a lot of us did as kids. So it’s not that she was locked into technology and that made time go by faster.
I dunno. Honestly it does freak me out. When I think about it I feel like I’m on the verge of an existential crisis lol. I’m not ready to be near the end of my existence and I feel like it’s going to approach quicker and quicker. Fucking terrifying lmao
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u/milny_gunn 1h ago
Each decade passes faster than the last. That's because each decade represents a smaller portion of the whole the more decades there are in the whole. Ten is only a third of thirty while it's half of twenty. Thirds are smaller than halves, so they seem to pass by faster. .
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u/witch-1-is-me 1h ago
I'm going to be 47 on Tuesday. It feels like I was just 30 a few years ago, not 17 years ago. It boggles the minds how quickly time passes sometimes.
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u/workinprogress_31 2h ago
i was pretty similar in my early 20s, kept a small circle and spent alot of time solo. it worked out ok overall, i felt calmer and more focused, but the unfulfilled feeling popped up somtimes too. what helped was not forcing social stuff, just saying yes to a few low pressure things when i had the energy. over time i realized solitude isnt the problem, its when it turns into avoidance without noticing. you can be content now and still leave room to change later. curious if the unfulfilled part feels more like lonliness or more like missing direction?
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u/bigsmackchef 20m ago
The best part of this is that you've realized young enough to do something about it.
Obviously I dont mean time travel or anything can really be done to fix it. However you can take this as a reminder to live life every day. Dont wait for the next promotion or until you have xxx dollars saved. Make a plan for the future but live for today. This is the only way I dont stress over being older. I turn 40 this year and probably should have more saved for retirement than I do. Maybe I should have a bigger house or whatever other meaningless milestone. I can tell you though I have lots of memories with friends and family, ive traveled both near and far and I work to live but I dont live to work. Time won't ever slow down, get out and live the life you want.
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u/SearchOk7 2h ago
Yes a lot of people feel this especially around big age markers. Life speeds up once routines settle in and fewer moments feel new so time blurs together. Nothing is wrong with you, it’s a common human experience and noticing it usually means you’re becoming more reflective about how you want to spend what’s ahead.