How to Live Longer Without Adding Years to Your Life

A lot of people say that as you get older time seems to speed up and each year seems to go by faster.

As we get older we get more established in our routines; we settle in to the things we know we like to do. We have an established circle of friends, familiar restaurants we enjoy, as well as the things we like to do for recreation.

This means that over time we are doing fewer new and different things that have the capacity to change us. We're spending more time doing things we have done countless times before that fit into our idea of who we are. As a result, more time passes between new memories. That is what creates the sense we get of time speeding up.

This is a theory that was supported in a book by the journalist Joshua Foer, a book on the nature of memory called Moonwalking with Einstein. In there, he writes:

Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next – and disappear. That's why it's so important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve as anchors to our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perceptions of our lives.

So there you have it. If you have that feeling that time is passing too quickly, the solution is to get out and do something new. Seek out experiences that are different than what you do most days, experiences that can change you by growing your knowledge, or by helping you see things with a new perspective. Search for experiences that will implant new memory markers and “stretch out” your years. That is how you have the time of your life.

Just so you know, this is a message I am really taking to heart myself. I'm in Australia right now, a place I have never been before, and I'm going to be here for the next several weeks, creating important new memories. I can't wait to share some of those experiences with you.