On Time

April 6th, 2024 (7 months ago) • 2 minutes

As we grow older, time seems to pass by faster. Every year seems shorter than the last. I remember when I was a kid, Chinese New Year is always so far away and when it comes, it feels like forever. Now, it feels like it's just around the corner till the next time.

There's a reason for this. Human measure things relatively, and that includes time as well. When we are 1 year old, one year is all that we know. But as we grow older, one year slowly become a small fraction of our life. For example when we are 10 years old, one year is 10% of our life. But when we are 50 years old, one year is only 2% of our life. Check out this great visualization on this.

In other words, our perception of time and how much it has passed is logarithmic instead of linear.

Perception of time getting shorter as we grow older

With only 2.5 months more in Malaysia before I fly off to San Francisco, I thought a lot about the time I have left here and how I can make the most of it with family and friends.