As I get older. Time seems to move quicker. It’s the strangest thing.
I remember Junior High school: September; 8th grade; autumn leaves; soccer practice; Mike Goodwin; Nintendo 64; European History; I bought a guitar; I drank alcohol and puked for the first time. In a way, that one September FELT like the the entire 12 months that just passed in 2015. Why?
One theory I have is that my brain is just recording less. Just like how a video camera records 24 frames per second. At some age it just gets lazy and misses keyframes:
That’s just how it FEELS. (Which is to say, I don’t think I’m going mental, but who the hell knows).
My other theory is something I’ll call “Longer Feels Shorter.” The idea is derived from the fact that: for every year you live; the percentage of time you’ve just lived is shorter.
I’ll just repeat that to let it soak in: for every year you live; the percentage of your total time on this planet, is shorter.
For example, when you go from 4 years old to 5 years old, you’ve added 20% more life to your existence. BUT when you go from 34 to 35 you’ve only added 3% more life to your existence.
In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. – Abraham Lincoln
One thing I’ve learned is that the brain remembers beginnings and ending more than it remembers middles. It remembers the day I got in a bike accident, not my commute to work last Tuesday.
So maybe I could make more beginnings and endings. More memories. But on the other hand, that wouldn’t necessarily make for the BEST life experience.
What percentage of life will you add with your next birthday?*
| Age | Percentage of your life lived this year compared to last year |
| 1 | 100.00% |
| 2 | 50.00% |
| 3 | 33.33% |
| 4 | 25.00% |
| 5 | 20.00% |
| 6 | 16.67% |
| 7 | 14.29% |
| 8 | 12.50% |
| 9 | 11.11% |
| 10 | 10.00% |
| 11 | 9.09% |
| 12 | 8.33% |
| 13 | 7.69% |
| 14 | 7.14% |
| 15 | 6.67% |
| 16 | 6.25% |
| 17 | 5.88% |
| 18 | 5.56% |
| 19 | 5.26% |
| 20 | 5.00% |
| 21 | 4.76% |
| 22 | 4.55% |
| 23 | 4.35% |
| 24 | 4.17% |
| 25 | 4.00% |
| 26 | 3.85% |
| 27 | 3.70% |
| 28 | 3.57% |
| 29 | 3.45% |
| 30 | 3.33% |
| 31 | 3.23% |
| 32 | 3.13% |
| 33 | 3.03% |
| 34 | 2.94% |
| 35 | 2.86% |
| 36 | 2.78% |
| 37 | 2.70% |
| 38 | 2.63% |
| 39 | 2.56% |
| 40 | 2.50% |
| 41 | 2.44% |
| 42 | 2.38% |
| 43 | 2.33% |
| 44 | 2.27% |
| 45 | 2.22% |
| 46 | 2.17% |
| 47 | 2.13% |
| 48 | 2.08% |
| 49 | 2.04% |
| 50 | 2.00% |
| 51 | 1.96% |
| 52 | 1.92% |
| 53 | 1.89% |
| 54 | 1.85% |
| 55 | 1.82% |
| 56 | 1.79% |
| 57 | 1.75% |
| 58 | 1.72% |
| 59 | 1.69% |
| 60 | 1.67% |
| 61 | 1.64% |
| 62 | 1.61% |
| 63 | 1.59% |
| 64 | 1.56% |
| 65 | 1.54% |
| 66 | 1.52% |
| 67 | 1.49% |
| 68 | 1.47% |
| 69 | 1.45% |
| 70 | 1.43% |
| 71 | 1.41% |
| 72 | 1.39% |
| 73 | 1.37% |
| 74 | 1.35% |
| 75 | 1.33% |
| 76 | 1.32% |
| 77 | 1.30% |
| 78 | 1.28% |
| 79 | 1.27% |
| 80 | 1.25% |
| 81 | 1.23% |
| 82 | 1.22% |
| 83 | 1.20% |
| 84 | 1.19% |
| 85 | 1.18% |
| 86 | 1.16% |
| 87 | 1.15% |
| 88 | 1.14% |
| 89 | 1.12% |
| 90 | 1.11% |
| 91 | 1.10% |
| 92 | 1.09% |
| 93 | 1.08% |
| 94 | 1.06% |
| 95 | 1.05% |
| 96 | 1.04% |
| 97 | 1.03% |
| 98 | 1.02% |
| 99 | 1.01% |
| 100 | 1.00% |
| 101 | 0.99% |
| 102 | 0.98% |
| 103 | 0.97% |
| 104 | 0.96% |
| 105 | 0.95% |
| 106 | 0.94% |
| 107 | 0.93% |
| 108 | 0.93% |
| 109 | 0.92% |
| 110 | 0.91% |
| 111 | 0.90% |
| 112 | 0.89% |
| 113 | 0.88% |
| 114 | 0.88% |
| 115 | 0.87% |
| 116 | 0.86% |
| 117 | 0.85% |
* Play with the original Google Doc which has the math and percentages.
