Why The Years Go By So Fast

I'm sure some of you already know this, but hearing this explanation of why the years seem to go by faster and faster and faster as you get older and older was one of those 'duh' moments for me. I actually heard this from a comedian on a talk radio show, Bob and Tom, a show that both Keith and I enjoy listening to in the mornings. Yes, listening to talk radio is another sign of advancing age.

Anyway, the comedian whose name I can't remember because I'm too fat and my brain is degenerating (see yesterday's post) was saying that when you are a child, a year out of your life is a very long time, such as a five year old's year being one fifth of his entire life so far. So a year takes forever to a five year old, and that is why it was so hard to wait for Christmas or your birthday when you were little. Then as you age, each year becomes a smaller portion of your life. You are twenty and a year is now one twentieth of your life, so it still seems like a long time, but not quite so long as when you were five. Now you are forty and a year is one fortieth of your life, so it goes by a lot faster. And so on. And that is why every year we say things like it can't be Christmas already, we just had Christmas. Or it definitely can't be my birthday already and I really can't be this old, can I? I just had my birthday!

So if you live to be one hundred, a year will only be one hundredth of your life and will seem very very short in comparison to the length of your life.

So, now, something that has puzzled me for so long was answered by a comedian.