
Ever since my retirement, I am completely amazed by how fast time moves. I used to think, 5 days a week, a work week, was all that was killing my time and life. It has been over two years since I retired from active career now. Even after discounting the honey moon period soon after the retirement, I still find myself busy all day. I am not racing behind time, but I don’t have much time really myself.
At the end of each day, I am disappointed that my day went by very fast. I didn’t get to really live it up. I mean literally, factually, emotionally LIVE – IT – UP! Day goes by fast, very fast. Considerable time gets spent on the daily chores which, given my minimalistic and raw food lifestyle, includes making my food, washing my daily clothes, keeping my rooms clean, and ordering stuff from Amazon, walking, eating and what not. AND a considerable time goes by on watching YouTube videos, checking social media, taking care of my finances, addressing my parents’ needs, hosting guests and what not. And after taking away the little time I spend on making videos for YouTube and writing blog posts, I really am not left with any time left in the day (or night, thanks to long calls with kids some times).
I see that there is virtually NO time left for myself. To ponder on what I really need. To ponder on the bigger subjects of spiritualism and philosophy. Every day I feel the day went by too fast, and I would wait for next day to better. But that never happens anything different.
I have come to realize that it is these daily routines that are taking away most of the time. But these are probably the essential ones in daily life that I can’t skip. I tried giving up the rest of the activities, and noticed that time ACTUALLY feels longer, If I don’t spend any time on social media and entertainment and such, it feels like the day gets longer. At the end of the day, there is a satisfaction of actually living the day. I literally FELT the day. It did not go by unnoticed. Our current times are ‘filled’ with a lifestyle that inherently make it busy. Do we really need them? And if yes, do we need them daily, every day? Probably not
I am sure you agree to this feeling. There is nothing earth-shattering here that you were not aware of. But the question is not that but rather, ‘did-you-try-it-out-yourself’? Learning and knowing are completely different things. The latter comes from experiencing alone. You may have understood the rationale, but you got to experience this. Try giving up all those non-essential activities at least for few days to experience. And then you would know how life ACTUALLY feels longer!
A prolonged life is not one where the terminal age is higher at 90 of 80. It is one where you would live for 20 years in 10 years of astrological time. We all actually seek experience of something, as against achieving something. The feel of becoming a millionaire for a non millionaire is the same as for a millionaire becoming a multi-millionaire. The feel of getting an unexpected promotion in office for an employee is the same is the same as passing an examination with flying colors for a student. Achieving a goal gives us happiness. It does not matter whether my goal was bigger than your goal. So if you are looking to prolong life, do that which makes it FEEL longer. And for that, you got to actually DO nothing. You need to DO that. Experience that!
Want to prolong your life even more? Then make yourself WAIT for something. Waiting makes the time feel even longer! The best part is depending on how badly you are waiting for something, the time gets even longer. Wait for what?
Wait (!) and watch my future posts on this subject.