Every year is getting shorter

The Retune Blog - 2nd June 2023

As someone in my late-forties it has become increasingly clear to me over the past decade that time is far less linear and predictable than I used to think it was. Not that a minute is no longer sixty seconds or sixty minutes one-hour. But as I’m sure many people will have experienced, and as sung in Pink Floyd’s Time:

Every year is getting shorter.

From a physics perspective, it’s clear that this idea isn’t actually true. Yet, as with all ideas, if we take a different perspective, and start to investigate the thought from a philosophical perspective, its experiential truth becomes a powerful reminder of a greater truth. Returning to our song:

The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older. Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.

Our experience of time is underpinned by one ultimate truth, and whilst this may sound morbid, it’s actually a critical message of which we need to remind ourselves: our time is limited. So, in our experience, our time remaining is becoming shorter, and recognising this helps us to realise its value in our decisions.

To take an economic perspective on this, we could relate this to the law of supply and demand in that what is in short supply becomes more valuable. As the time available to us decreases, its value to us increases.

Recognising this, far from being defeatist or morbid, can help us to recognise that we can choose to make the best of our time. But this in itself is a complicated idea. Making the best of our time doesn’t necessarily mean being more efficient or cramming more in, but actually having quality time for what we choose is important.

Sometimes, as we try to work this out, this does mean being more time efficient. But often it means making choices that ensure we actually spend our time doing what is meaningful to us instead of doing that which is just easiest. So, rather than going to battle with our remaining time to try to squeeze the most in, it makes far more sense to embrace the limited experience of time as a motivator to help us make meaningful life choices.