Have you ever wondered how time flies fast when we are young but faster when we grow old? Well then, this article might be your answer.
When we are young, we often find ourselves chasing things—money, status, a job, a home, and so much more. As we pursue them one after the other, time moves along and we grow old. This often makes us realize how little time we’ve spent meaningfully, and that understanding might hurt us.
Some might feel hurt because of the times they said ‘no’ to group trips and events. Some might feel bad for not spending enough time with their family. Some miss the things they wish they had done when they were younger, while others have their own reasons for regret. But why do we feel like this?
To understand it better, we must take a look at one theory—Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a simple concept that explains the ‘why’ behind people’s actions—the motivation that people might carry throughout their lives. As per this theory, humans have different kinds of needs, and these needs are arranged in the form of a pyramid, from the most basic needs at the bottom to the most advanced at the top of the pyramid.
As we begin from the bottom of the pyramid, we find basic survival needs such as food and water, termed as the physiological needs. Once those are taken care of, we start to look for safety and security, such as a stable job and a home to live in. Above that, we have love and belonging, which includes friendships and family. Next comes the need for esteem—our desire for respect, recognition, and self-confidence. And, at the utmost top, there’s self-actualization, which means realizing our best capacity and having a sense of fulfillment in achieving our personal goals.
Well, this theory makes one thing clear for us: humans always have something to chase or attain. In our youth, we often feel like time is rushing because of our constant chase after needs like security, belongingness, and achievements, so we always have the mental load filled with tasks, ambitions, and transitions. This urgency largely comes from the pressure of unmet needs, making life feel overwhelmingly fast-paced.
As we grow older, when we have fulfilled the most basic and physiological needs, we might still feel like the time’s speeding up, but this time, for a different reason. With much more stability in life and very few unmet needs, older people focus more on self-reflection and attempt to make the most of their time left because of the awareness of their limited time. This fear around mortality intensifies the feeling that time is flying by quickly, and hence, this realization is often met with mixed feelings of gratitude, sadness, or disappointment.
As a self-reflection, I felt sad for how little time I have spent on myself in the past few days, especially on my birthday eve. I turned twenty a couple of days ago, and it suddenly hit me that I can no longer be a teenager again, and that realization made me feel disappointed with myself for not spending the last few days of my teenage years in a meaningful manner. The past month has been filled with academic overload and personal issues on my side, so if one task gets done, the other comes up.
The imagery that I drew around my birthday eve—a slow day filled with fun and meaning—turned out to be a day of unfinished tasks and whining about the same all day. Now, looking back at that day, while I do feel bad for myself, I still somehow feel grateful for that version of me, because she made it possible for me to give all the presentations and tests that I was supposed to give on the day of my birthday. While it wasn’t exactly how I had imagined my twentieth birthday to be, I also know that I’d still cherish it no matter what, because the first step to adulthood did really teach me what ‘adulting’ can look like.
This day also made me realize that as we age, time is going to run faster, so maybe it’s in our hands to pause it—to find meaning in chaos and to nurture ourselves whenever we can. After all, this is how we make our lives worth living—and our existence truly feel alive.