60 Before 60 Project

After I turned 59, as with most of my life’s milestones, I tend to take a look back at where I’ve been and also look forward to where I’m going. I’m fortunate to say that for the most part, I’m pretty happy with my life and the way it’s turned out.

But I also discovered I was in a bit of a funk.

Like most of us, I spent quite a bit of time socially isolating over the last couple of years due to the pandemic. Before this happened, I used to be out and about all the time and whenever there was something going on I would be either the first to say yes or help organize it.

But I’ve noticed that this has changed. I am now finding myself saying no more frequently. I’ll come up with excuses to not go someplace or do something and prefer to spend a quiet time at home.

When I am now out, I’m finding that conversations are shorter and sometimes even a little awkward. It’s like I’ve lost the gift of the gab. And when I am home, I noticed I’m streaming movies and series way more than I ever used to.

This would all be fine if this was the type of life I wanted to live - but it’s not.

I’m noticing that it’s slowly taking a toll on my outlook and view of life. I’m getting bored doing the same things day in and day out and my motivation and creativity seem stifled.

As well, I’m noticing how quickly life is now moving. The months on the calendar just seem to be flying past at a rate I’ve never experienced before.

It turns out, time actually can go by quicker as you age.

The reason is because as children, we’re in the early stages of developing our neural circuits which takes longer than for adults. As a result, when we’re younger our perception of how fast time is moving is slower. As adults, our circuits and memories are quicker to make so time seems like it’s going faster – especially if we keep doing the same things.

But there is a way to slow down time (at least in our brains). There is something called the “holiday paradox” that may help. This is how it works.

Think about how fast time seemed to go while you were enjoying something enjoyable – like a new experience such as a vacation. When it was happening, it may have seemed that it went by fast but when you looked back on it, it often seems that it lasted longer than it actually was.

Here’s part of the reason why. During a new experience although we may think it feels like time is going fast, it actually leaves a deeper impression of that time along with a bunch of new and unique memories that provide a sort of stretch to that actual time.

What’s also interesting it that it doesn’t have to be a vacation or major event to make time seem like it’s slower, it just needs to be trying something new or continuously learning that provide new memories and engage our brain.

With all this in mind, I decided that I this year I need to shake my life up a bit. I want to expand my experiences and try to slow down time.

So, I decided to give myself a birthday present. Over the next year, I plan to do 60 different things before I turn 60. It’s not necessarily great big things. Some will just be a change of scenery or even doing something different. Some will push my boundaries and some I hope will be life changing.

One thing for certain, is this will definitely shake my life up!