#332: Make Life Last a Little Longer: 3 Life-Changing Secrets to Slow Down Time

It's ridiculous.

But here's the question I posed for today's episode.

What if we can change that?

Yeah, what if we can change the way in which we perceive time?

Slow down time, make life last a little bit longer?

If you're at all curious.

Well, awesome, because I am, too.

And that's exactly why I am excited for us to dive into today's episode.

So, my friend, I welcome you.

It's episode 332.

Yo.

Are you ready to flip the script on life?

Cause those bad days, they're just doors to better days.

And that's exactly what we do here at grit, grace, and inspiration.

Your host, Kevin Lowe.

He's been flipping the script on his own life, turning over 20 years of being completely blind into straight up inspiration, motivation, and encouragement just for you.

So kick back, relax, and let me introduce you to your host, Kevin Lowe.

So check this out.

This feeling that time is passing by faster and faster with every year that we get older.

It's actually something that science has proved to be true.

Scientists, people way smarter than me, and I don't know, maybe you, theyve actually taken interest in the same subject and they have determined that, yes, indeed, our brains really do perceive time differently as we age.

But what today is all about is the cool thing is that theres something we can actually do about this.

Now, obviously, im not going to share some secret about how to actually change time.

No, I don't have those abilities.

But instead, we're going to talk about the way in which we perceive time.

So if you stick with me throughout today's episode, I'm going to share some simple tricks, some tips to help you slow down time and to make life last a little bit longer before we get to discovering how we're going to make time last longer.

I guess let's kind of rewind things a little bit and try to better understand why did time seem to be slower when we were younger?

If you think about it, when we're growing up, everything is new.

Every sleepover, every first day of school, your first time at riding a bike, your first time going on a date, your first time driving a car, it's all these new experiences that your brain is constantly in overdrive, trying to take in this world.

And as your brain is in overdrive, trying its best to process all of this new information, it makes time feel slower.

So, as we get older, what happens?

Well, the opposite occurs.

We no longer are trying new things.

We're no longer growing.

We're no longer evolving into the person we are.

No.

Instead, we get lame, we get boring.

We get stuck in a rut.

We get doing the same thing day after day.

And so therefore, what happens?

Our brain no longer has to work so hard to process new information.

Therefore, time seems to zip by.

Because our brain isn't having to work so hard when we're kids, the brain is working tough.

As we get older and we get lazy and we just fall into the routines of life, well, our brain slows down, and therefore, kind of the opposite.

Time speeds up.

Now, another thing which, when I was researching for today's episode, I was like, wow.

Well, this really makes sense when you think about it, is that when you're a kid, say you're ten years old, one year is a 10th of your life.

That's a long time.

No wonder it lasts a little bit longer.

Compare that to if you're 50 years old, then one year is only 2% of your life.

Now, I'm going to hope that I did the math correct on that, but as you can see, we're comparing one year at ten years old of being 10% of your life versus one year at 50 years old being 2% of your life.

It just makes sense when you think about it in that regard.

Now, if the numbers kind of left you thinking, um, I don't know if Kev knows what he's talking about.

Maybe I should not do math here on the podcast, because it's definitely not my strong suit.

But I hope you kind of get where I'm going with this, is that as we're growing up, we're experiencing new things, we're trying new things.

We're not stuck in the rut like we are as adults.

And at the same point, life, we haven't been here as long, so things seem to be lasting a little bit longer than they do.

Then when we are older, it just makes sense when you think about it.

So, all of that being said is, for the purpose of today's episode, is that we needed to understand that in order for us to be able to put the breaks on time and slow things down a bit.

And in order to do this well, I put together three strategies to help you slow time down, to help you take time back to being a kid when everything seemed to take forever.

Yes.

And I mean forever.

Number one, my friend, it's for you to seek out new experiences as often as possible.

Now, here, I want you to remember, new is key.

It's a new coffee shop.

It's a new way to work.

It's you learning a new skill.

It's even you doing something as simple as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand.

Yeah.

It makes your brain think more than it was brushing your teeth.

It's something super routine, something you don't think about.

But if you switch hands and now you're trying to brush your teeth with the other hand, your brain's thinking and it's slowing down time.

I think that's a really cool example of exactly what I'm trying to say here is it's getting your mind to think to getting yourself in new situations.

Or maybe it's the same situation but just looked at from a different angle and therefore it slows everything down.

It has you focusing on the here and now a little bit more.

And that actually segues perfect into my second tip.

And that is being more mindful of the here and now.

This, my friend, is about being mindful of right now, to be present in the moment.

If you want to make this moment last a little bit longer, then stop thinking about the next moment to happen.

If you want today to be amazing, then don't keep focusing on what tomorrow holds.

You have to be present in right now.

Don't focus on yesterday.

Don't focus on tomorrow.

Instead, put all of your attention right now.

The more that you're fully in depth into what you're doing, the longer it's going to be, the more meaningful it's going to be.

And honestly, if you think about it, thats really what this is all about.

Its not really about making time last longer.

Its about getting more out of every second were here making things a little bit more meaningful.

So the next time that you catch yourself living on autopilot, I want you to slow yourself down.

Want yourself to get present in the moment when youre eating dinner with your family, dont pick up your phone, dont turn on the tv.

Just be present in the moment.

The importance of that, the meaning of that is far reaching.

And I believe it can do a lot more for us than just this idea of slowing down time.

And my third tip is my favorite tip, and that is to fill your life with things that you look forward to.

This goes back to that whole idea of as kids time moving slowly because we're always looking forward to something.

I know myself, I always had something big I wanted for my birthday or something big I had asked Santa Claus for, for Christmas.

And therefore, my friend, it felt like forever for either of those to arrive.

Same thing with summer vacation.

Couldn't wait for it to get here for school to be over with and therefore school, oh my gosh, it was like it lasted forever.

So why don't we do that in our lives today as adults?

So maybe you need to start planning out some more things in your life that you're excited about.

Make plans for this upcoming weekend.

Make plans for a big vacation a few months from now, a year from now.

Constantly giving yourself something to be excited about.

And it doesn't have to be big things.

Maybe it's just a really awesome dinner that you have planned out for tonight.

And all day you're spent thinking about it, you're excited about it again.

That is key, my friend.

It has to be something that you're truly, genuinely excited about.

Because when we get excited, when you start anticipating what is to come, well, then naturally time is going to move a little bit slower.

I think a perfect example of this is going on a road trip.

I can remember as a kid and heck, even as an adult, when off on a road trip, going on vacation, the drive to wherever youre headed always seems way longer than the drive back home.

I dont know if you can relate, but I can.

I can think of trips up into the mountains or trips down to the Florida Keys.

The trip there was always so much longer than the drive back home.

It's because we're excited about what is to come.

We're constantly anticipating what is next.

But the drive back home, well, we're all bummed.

We don't want to go home.

We don't want vacation to end.

The sites that we're passing, well, we've already seen them.

It's old news.

That's exactly what I'm talking about with the new experiences.

Thing is, you got to have things that you're excited about, new experiences that you're looking forward to.

That, my friend, is going to make time slow way down.

So, my friend, here's the bottom line.

We can't actually slow down time, but we can do a lot of things to change the way in which we perceive time.

By you experiencing new things, by you being present in the moment, and by you planning out things that get you excited about the future.

Naturally, time is going to start to move a little bit slower.

So I leave you with a challenge.

I want you to try something new.

I want you to plan something that you're excited about.

And I want you to be sure that you're living in the moment each and every day.

Stop thinking so much about tomorrow and just be sure that when you've planned that thing, that once that thing arrives, that you dont just be thinking about the next thing.

But instead, youre present in the moment, that you soak it all in, that you take it all in.

You enjoy every moment you have with those around you, that you enjoy this life to the fullest.

And my friend, naturally youre going to realize that, huh, the year didnt fly by like it used to.

Does seem like things are moving a little bit slower.

And as we get older, I think that is something that we could all definitely use is to slow down life a little bit more.

So, my friend, I hope todays episode helped you in some way of maybe making life last a little bit longer.

My name is Kevin Lowe.

Im your host.

And this, of course, was another episode of grit, grace, and inspiration.

It's been my pleasure to be here with you today.

So it's your turn to get out there and enjoy the day.