Time Travel Conundrum

Shortly after I retired, I discovered something truly amazing about time and how time passes. 

It seemed so absurd that I never mentioned it. 

Then yesterday, out of the blue, my wife announced that she had noticed exactly the same thing.

Here’s what we’ve observed, and it’s a real  paradox:

When you’re working, the days often pass quickly while the weeks seem to last forever.  Once you’ve retired, it’s just the opposite; days often seem to drag on into infinity, but the weeks go by in a flash.

There are some exceptions, but as a general rule, that seems to be how we perceive the passage of time.  It is particularly noticeable when we have a string of cold, gray, drizzly days like we’ve experienced in the last couple of weeks.

Not complaining, just reporting.  After all, we’re into the latter half of our 60s – there’s no reason why we should want to live our lives at the speed of light.  Nevertheless, this reversal of time perception is a conundrum.

The idea that our perception of time varies with age is not original with Honey or me.  Google “perception of time with age” and you will get a variety of scientific articles with varying theories and an interesting, if not particularly helpful, segment from National Public Radio.  At the top of the NPR page, you can click to hear a show segment on the subject, or just to the right of that, click Transcript to read it.

I suppose the phenomenon could be explained psychologically.  I know having something specific to do, some deadline or goal to accomplish, could make the day seem to  pass more quickly, and I’d guess looking forward to the weekend could make the work week seem to drag on.  But – that still doesn’t explain why the weeks fly by when every day is pretty much like the day before and the one before that.