Do any of you have difficulty with the passage of time?

[bucolic_frolic]

My life seems frozen. It is hard for me to conceptualize the passage of time because things don't change much. This really hit home today because I did the laundry this morning. The washing machine is 37 years old. Are we really 37 years after 1984? Did I do the math correctly? It's not 27. It's 37. Where did it go?

[Sneederbunk]

1. Gone like a lost sock.

[CrispyQ]

2. Life is like a roll of toilet paper--the closer you get to the end the faster it goes. -nt

[Butterflylady]

3. OMG that's me in a nutshell!

[Fla Dem]

20. Best analogy I've read /heard.

Ant then finally that last square of life just spins away.

[Rorey]

4. I'm impressed that your washer is still working

For me, time is whizzing by, and it's kind of terrifying.

And yes, it's been 37 years since 1984. My youngest son was born that year.

[rsdsharp]

6. Me too.

When I got out of school in 1987. We bought a new stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer. We’ve replaced all of them twice, and the third drier is now showing signs it’s dying.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. It's a Kenmore.

Was not quite top of the line, but close. Not electronic, but with energy saving features. No extended warranty. After 5.5 years the controller went kaput. I debated and debated. New one, or junk it? The part was expensive, something like $97. And fundamentally redesigned. Seems to have silver plated contacts that the original didn't. Put it in myself. So far so good.

[BootinUp]

5. "They say time is the fire in which we all burn"

A line from Star Trek Generations as I remember it.

[qazplm135]

7. it's not the passage that's the problem...

it's the sudden stop at the end.

[targetpractice]

9. I read a study recently....

... I'll try to find a link to the article... But, the gist was is that our perception of time depends on how we form memories about new, emotional, and different experiences (milestones)... For children, every day is filled with new and exciting events and time seems seems to pass more slowly... For adults as they get older, especially those in a routine, time seems to pass by quickly.... because most days are the same.

[Laffy Kat]

17. Yes, remember how long the summers used to last when we were children?

It seemed like a lifetime and now..wooosh!

[Beringia]

22. I read the same thing, it depends on if you are learning new things and having new experiences

That is why childhood seems endless when you are a child.

[empedocles]

10. I look in the mirror and wonder . . . who is that old person?

[Arkansas Granny]

11. And what is she doing in my bathroom?

[sanatanadharma]

19. I have looked in the mirror some over seven decades ...

... and never have I seen any other than me looking back. That one within the changing body has invariably been there.
The existent-consciousness of every individual sees the changes around and knows the constant self within.
Washers and bodies wear-out while the user of both is always 'now' comprehending the changing challenges of time.

[Ron Obvious]

12. All the time!

With similar amazement at how long ago things seem that feel much more recent.

[Chainfire]

13. I live day to day, I don't really lament the passing of time.

We get the time we get. I know time is passing because my son is getting gray in his hair.

[Generic Brad]

14. I want it to temporarily speed up

Get me to financial independence and retirement. Then I can stop focusing my life on work and shift it to discovery and exploration.

[mopinko]

15. the reason i always had to have a garden

is just this. it anchors me in time. i can look at a tree i planted, and know what time it really is.
my life revolves around the seasons, more than ever.
i am very grateful for that.

[csziggy]

21. The trees I've planted make me feel very old

We planted a lot of trees about forty years ago. All the dogwoods and most of the Southern red cedars have lived out their lifespans. The loblolly pines are now tall enough to attract the lightning that kills them. The sycamores are immense, except for the two that were seriously damaged when the barn was struck by lightning and burned to the ground almost four years ago.

In fact, the wood from the sycamores is off at a carpenter being made into a big trestle table. I'd hoped to use a single slab for the top, but he may book match the wood for it. It was 32" in diameter at the bottom and 34"at the crotch where we had to cut the trunk.

The tulip tree we planted only 35 years ago is now huge. I'm wondering if I should plant another one near the house, but I don't think I have another 35 years to watch it grow up.

[mopinko]

25. yeah, you do.

it's not just the long span of the italian plum on the back yard that is 35 yo, or the magnolia that is 25. or the pie cherry that has a placenta from my youngest planted w it.

it's the dozen and a half trees that i have planted in the last 9 yrs since i started this little farm. and the ones i will continue to plant when i get the property that i am buying this year.
and the berry bushes. and the tomatoes that i grow every year from saved seed.
and the seedlings that are growing right now. and the clones of those berries.

it's that the garden is the place where you have to do things in their season, or there is no point.
that has been my calendar all my life. so, years dont speed up or slip by.
they turn w a beautiful order.

[csziggy]

26. I love my trees but had to give up on a vegetable garden

The deer lived here first and they think they own anything they can browse on. I'd have to build a fortress to keep them out - standard fences are not tall enough and they would push over anything that wasn't solid. I don't see the deer often, but their tracks are fresh every morning. This morning I saw some big tracks, over two inches long!

That's OK, watching the wildlife sets my seasonal clock. We had robins for the few weeks of winter this year. Now the red shouldered hawks are starting their mating rituals and the warblers are migrating through - though the warblers may hang around since the cold wave has cut off their routes north.

I know summer is here when the kites arrive - we get both Mississippi and swallowtail kites.

This year I will be planting a flower garden with things that attract birds and bees. We moved some sweetbush that was on the property when we bought it - I thought the original plant had split into two but it had split in eight or nine! That will make a nice open hedge that is deer resistant!

[mopinko]

27. i'm waiting for the deer to find me.

there is a cemetery about a mile away where there are a bunch. it's surprising that they dont spread out more. tho they do have their own coyote pack to keep them in check.

i hear ya on the fence thing. i have a 6' fence around my back yard, where my chickens are. it doesnt rly keep them in, or the coyotes out, but i do have a big dog who keeps things in order.
but one of these days... they are so badass. i call them chi-otes. bold af.

[csziggy]

29. The horses tend to go after the coyotes

But that does not keep them out of the places where we don't have pastures for the horses. My mares will run down canines in the pasture - they look like they are having fun but they will stomp a dog or coyote into the ground!

[mopinko]

30. well, i dont have room for horses.

tho maybe a little pony some day. my mam's cousin had a shetland pony that was a nasty piece of work. i'm sure a pony like that would do the trick.

am planning on goats at some point, tho. cashmere goats. my dogs will love playing w them. the young dude will go nuts. the old man prolly not so much, but i think he'll still get a chuckle out of them, esp when they're small.
we got biff, my bully dog, right when we started the farm. my first batch of chickens arrived shortly after he did, and he loved them. couldnt figure out why they knew no puppy games. goats know all the same games, tho.

[csziggy]

31. Donkeys are better at going after coyotes

And they are often kept with sheep and goats for protecting the herd. You'll have to introduce a donkey to your dogs so it will know they are part of the herd.

Ponies do tend to be nasty, partly because children are often the ones ones handling them and children are not good at discipline. Donkeys can be nasty, too, but as long as you are ready to teach them manners - or adopt one that already knows their manners - they can be wonderful pets. Noisy, though.

For how sweet donkeys can be see this thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181469592

I have sixty acres with thirty in woods/swamp, and most of the rest for the horses - except for my house. It used to be my seasons were defined by foaling, breeding, show, and weaning time. I really miss foaling time but I can't even care for my own horses any more. Now a family has their horses here and care for mine to pay for the space.

[Harker]

16. Time flies like an arrow.

Fruit flies like a banana.

[DEbluedude]

18. It disappeared...

Like a miracle!

[hunter]

23. I bounce back and forth in time and never quite know where I am when I wake up in the morning.

There's some anti-psychotic meds I've found helpful.

I don't think time is some kind of incomplete "fourth dimension" flying straight like an arrow in one direction. Rather time seems to me an intrinsic property of three familiar dimensions, each two-thirds space-like and one third time-like.

Whenever I catch a glimpse of some bad future it's like accidentally biting my tongue. I feel my teeth chomping towards my misplaced tongue but I can't do anything to stop it. I've put my tongue between chomping teeth many times in my life.

I'm partial to those theories of physics where the future reaches back into the past and the past reaches forward into the future to create some local ever-shifting present.

Causality may be an illusion useful to our selfish genes.

Sadly you can't really argue with the selfish genes of ancestors who go all the way back to the first life on earth.

Imagine it. Every one of your ancestors to the beginning of life on earth billions of years ago managed to survive long enough to reproduce.

What are the odds of that?

If faster-than-light or time travel were possible, which they are not, I suspect the universe would look pretty much the same wherever you went, past communicating with future to make some plausible-to-humans present.

Not that we humans are anything special, this universe accommodates all sorts of idiot proto-intelligences.

[mopinko]

28. i'm getting that way.

i didnt used to believe in anything i couldnt bite.
but the more physics advances, and the more i learn about who i come from, the more i tend to believe in things i cant even see.

if there is anything i have learned, it is to trust my gut. irish legend says that women in the families that begin w o' have visions. my mom was an o'regan and an o'dwyer.
mostly that thing has led me to find treasures in trash cans, and designer clothes in thrift shops.
but it also once saved my son from drowning.
and my other son is a hot mess at 30 because i didnt trust my gut.

knowing who i come from put a new shine on all that. never again will i distrust this gift.

[Iggo]

24. It goes.

And faster all the time.

[Initech]

32. I feel like since COVID hit, time has been slower than anything.

Just life without distractions, or social interaction, or things to look forward to really sucks. When that stuff returns things will be way different!

[kcr]

34. Same here

Time has suddenly slowed to a crawl. 2019 feels like 10 years ago.

[tanyev]

33. I was going to say no, but then I saw the thread about Larry the Cat

being at Downing Street for 10 years.

[birdographer]

35. When it used to drag

I would just make a dentist appointment. Then it would FLY to that day.

Now I have noticed that it seems like every other day is Friday. The weeks just zoom. We are a little pissed that now when we have limited time left, we can't do anything with it.

[struggle4progress]

36. No. Although 1970 has been a really hard year for me,

I really believe 1971 will be better