I heard the older we get, the faster time goes by.
The faster we *feel* it goes by, anyway.
I heard this is because a year when you are 5 years old amounts to 20% of your entire life. But a year when you're 32 years old amounts to only 3.13% of your life.
And so on…
And so each day, each hour, minute, second gets less and less unique, less relevant. And you acclimate to things, to experiences, to people.
Life becomes more redundant. And this redundancy speeds time up. And this acceleration can feel very strange to us as we get older, very existential and painful.
Like time is leaving us before we’re ready to let it go.
Fortunately, though, there’s an antidote, a way to reverse the effect:
Novelty.
Because the opposite is also true — coming into new things and experiences and people slows time down.
Today is my birthday.
I’m 33.
And this past year, at least for me, felt slower than usual. Probably because so many new things happened.
Bad things, sure, like covid and lockdown.
But good things, too. My wife and I bought our first home. And soon, very soon, we’ll have our first baby, a boy.
I can’t wait to meet him.
(Soon, kiddo, soon.)
And speaking of new meetings, I’ve met countless good, smart folks through my newsletter and on LinkedIn. Generous people who’ve given me new marketing ideas, new copywriting opportunities, and yes, newfound confidence.
Thank you all for the kindness and support this past year, folks.
You’ve helped slow down my time — and I don’t take it for granted at all.
Here’s to another year of new things and experiences and people, y’all.
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Eddie Shleyner
VeryGoodCopy, founder
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