Time has never changed. The length of a second has always been, and always will be, the same – about as long as it takes you to say 'Mississippi'. Yet, each passing year seems to get shorter and shorter, despite being no less than 365 days long.

 

While time is one of the few universally agreed constants, our perception of it is often completely different to how it actually passes. An individual's perception of time is one of the few variables that we are yet to define and be able to measure, simply because of its subjective nature. Like myself, I am sure many of you have experienced weekends, or even entire holidays, that have felt more momentary than a blink. Similarly, I am sure many of you are much too familiar with the overwhelming dread that consumes you as you glance up at the clock in utmost terror and anticipation during an English lesson, only to see that a mere 2 minutes has passed since you last checked the time. Regretfully I must inform you that I do not hold the answers to the cause of this deep-rooted evil, but as a regular victim of the '10-Hour English lesson', I will pose one of multiple possibilities as to why this prolonged (or in some cases diminished) sense of time occurs.

 

As a 3 year old, your incredibly daunting list of tasks may have consisted of something akin to: playing games, eating, playing some more and then sleeping. Meanwhile as teenagers, we have the luxury of 6 hours of school accompanied by an hour of commute to and from said school, and to our joy are met with an additional 3 hours of homework when we finally reach home. When framed like this it starts to make some more sense why time always seems to pass so differently.

 

My point is, perhaps the less scientific explanation for the relativity of time is that as time continues, our workloads and responsibilities continue to grow as well, leaving less and less free time to do the activities we actually enjoy. This leads to us highly valuing the time that we do get, even if it is very little.

 

For this reason I encourage you to make space in your day to do what you enjoy, for without this, life seems monotonous and often pointless. We need to have some time to 'waste' in order to alleviate stress from our minds, and to have something to look forward to. While ultimately we cannot control time, we can cherish the past, make the most of the present, and look forward to what the future holds.