November 14th, 2025

I noticed something recently that I hadn't realized before.  Isn't it funny how that happens.  You merrily stroll through your life, doing pretty much the same things most days, and suddenly, something you've seen or done a zillion times previously, looks or feels different than it ever did before .  It's wild.

I wasn't intentionally deeply analyzing or examining anything. I wasn't doing in depth research or pondering great thoughts.  It was merely an observation.  But one that kind of hit hard.

I'll set the stage for you.  I've been making an effort to do my workouts on a standard schedule, not just when the mood strikes me and not at all surprisingly, it does make a difference!  I was doing my crunches - and not the potato chip sort -  two sets of fifty.  Yes, that's what I said and proud of it.  Anyway, I try to fool myself into thinking it's not actually fifty by counting to 25 and then from 25 back down to one.  It's a pathetic attempt to trick myself into doing more and I know how sad that sounds but it actually works for me. So anyway, I noticed, for the first time that it seemed as if counting up to 25 takes longer and goes slower than counting from 25  down to one.  What?

As soon as I was aware of this peculiarity,  I slowed myself down a bit and did it again.  Up to 25, down to one.  Yup, it still seemed as if counting up was harder and took longer than counting down.  Bizarre!  Then I paid attention to when I was doing other reps and sets, if I break my count in half and do part up and part down, does it happen doing other exercises?  Answer: yes!  

So now I had to really look super closely at what I was doing, get more analytical about it.   Am I going faster?  I made a very strong effort to keep a steady rhythmic count. UP 25 DOWN 25.    I'm accustomed to keeping a strong and steady beat from many years of music.  After awhile it becomes ingrained and you don't really have to think about it, you just do it, you keep a smooth and steady beat so I was pretty sure I was doing it evenly, but I wanted to be certain.

Turns out I was not going any faster (at least not perceptibly) but I still had that same feeling.  Counting up is harder and takes longer than counting down.  So Strange! As my Dad would have said " How 'bout that".  It was a multi-purpose phrase that he used whenever he didn't know what else to do with information given or learned.

I let it go,  just kind of allowed the information simmer in the back of my brain for awhile.  It's not really a life altering observation after all, more of a "huh, interesting" thing.  I mean, really, what does a person do with that sort of knowledge?  Exactly nothing.

So the front of my brain just kept doing it's front brain stuff as I wandered through my days, doing all the sorts of things I always do, tralalala.  And then the back of my brain, which is so much smarter than the front part and clearly had been working on this, unbeknownst to me, suddenly pops up and says, " so the first half of your count goes more slowly than the second half eh?  Just like life". And I stopped.

Seriously, I froze in my tracks and did a double blink.  Blinkity blink.  Yes!  Exactly!  

When I was a little kid, days crawled by.  Especially in math class with that giant clock on the wall above the chalk board that always went one beat backwards before it moved forwards (and that alone made me crazy). It took eternity for that clock to deliver us from the evil that is mathematics.  The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas might as well have been a trip to the planet Neptune - a journey of around 14 years by the way.    Even a good day felt long, in a good way.  There was enough time to really thoroughly immerse yourself in the wonderfulness of a glorious day. 

Then, somewhere along the line in my life, my perception of time changed and the seasons started zooming past me.  I assumed it had to do with being so very busy:  working at least one, sometimes two jobs but also a mother of 3, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a friend, the chief cook and bottle washer.........  my days were very full.  The days were absolutely Joyous, please do not misunderstand, but very full.  Sometimes overfull. I'm sure that most of us felt that same way.  It makes sense that for a super busy person, time would seem to fly by as they say.

But then suddenly one day, I was retired. I had all the time in the world now to do exactly as I please.  I could sit and read all day if I wanted to.  I take long walks on the beach or strolls into town. I can go for a hike with Joy, bake cookies, go to lunch with a friend, have a nap, whatever I dang well please.  I assumed this meant that time would begin to slow down for me once again since my life slowed down considerably.

As it turns out, I assumed incorrectly.  Actually, it feels as if time is going by faster than ever.  Here it is Friday and it seemed as if it was Monday about an hour ago. It's mid-November right now but I think it was just last week that I was fretting about the beginning of Hurricane Season which starts in June.  I know I move more slowly these days, and I wonder if perhaps, subconsciously, I am trying to force time to slow down with me.

Just like my exercise counting, my life went slower the first half and is most definitely going faster in this last half.  I read somewhere long ago that a life is like a toilet paper roll.  It goes faster as you near the end. When I first heard this long ago and far away, I thought it was downright bizarre thing to say.
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I get it now.