As one ages, time slips by faster and faster. This is partly due to the aggregation of lifespan; one year is over 10% of your life when you are 9 years old but only 2% by the time you are 50. It's not surprising that a year doesn't seem to last as long.
But another huge effect on the perception of time accelerating is the demands on our attention. As a kid, life was governed by very few demands on our time. We had to spend a lot of it in school, but this didn't feel like a demand on time and we had enough of it outside of school anyway. Life was governed by about 15 minutes of chores, 1 minute of homework, and a few major holidays. Over the course of a year, this wasn't very much.
In college, my time was occupied with classes, studying, work, and leisure. I was much busier but still had ample time for leisure. Even when I began working a real job teaching at university, leisure time was plentiful and spent reading, out with my wife, playing music, and so on.
Then I graduated from uni and started working full time at the university, which includes an equal or greater non-classroom time commitment for committee work, curriculum development, and research and publication. A few months before I was promoted to this job, my daughter was born.
Free time?
I'm not complaining in the least. This post is more about observing the changing guard as one passes into a new phase in life. I got slammed hard core at work this year. Teaching 2 new classes with strict curricula was a difficult adjustment for me as I became familiar with the material and had to keep the pace. Finding ways to meet my obligations in committees and other expectations was challenging as well. I didn't succeed with tripping here and there but overall I weathered it pretty well. I've learned a lot about organization and am developing a system for dealing with the demands on my attention better.
As for the lack of free time at home, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love playing with my daughter. She is only 16 months old now and in a few years she'll be more independent, playing on her own or with friends and studying or being busy with school. I'll have more free time then and will miss what I have now. I don't get to read as many books, play as many video games, watch as many movies or write as many blog entries as I would like to, but I'd rather spend an evening playing with Little People and Mega Bloks for now.
I'm almost despondent about the future heartbreak in store when I'm no longer the most important person in her life (I expect it we're halfway there already). It's kind of cliche, perhaps, but Chapin's Cat's Cradle is my worst nightmare. Perhaps that is why I'm fanatical about taking pictures of her. I enjoy photography a lot, of course, but having a visual record gives me something to hang onto once this era has passed.
But the point here isn't to whine about the joys and perils of parenthood. Youth is wasted on the youth, and I hope that everyone who happens to read this (and even those who don't, by jove!) takes advantage of wherever they are right here, right now. Don't ever be bored; this is the easiest affliction in the world to cure! Don't wish to be some place else because soon you will be and you'll realize how nice it was before (not that it isn't nice where you are. It's just that in hindsight you'll see that it wasn't as bad as you thought it was and that you squandered it by wanting to be somewhere else).
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Posted by Nutrimentia at January 19, 2005 05:42 PM | TrackBack