The funny thing about time is that it only goes in one direction and it goes faster and faster as you age. What at first seems like a broad, deep, slowly meandering river becomes a narrow, fast flowing, gushing torrent the older you get: there's just never enough time to get everything done!
The feeling that time speeds up is of course a trick of our brains, because of the way they develop: when you're younger you know nothing and so you notice everything! All those small details, every second ticks by heavily… But after your brain has been around a while it learns not to notice as much, it learns to filter out the meaningless repetitive things that happen all the time and only pays attention to the bigger things, so this creates the effect of seemingly compressed time. It's really that simple. Your brain just gets better at reality. :)
This is also why kids get bored more easily while adults don't. But if your brain DID notice every second the way a child's does, you would go out of your head at the tedium of it all (this does in fact happen, there are people with bairn defects that experience this).
But that illusion of rushing time doesn't help you get things done faster!
There's a great thread in the forums by mks_monsters about your hobbies :
- http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177747/
Doing comics, both writing and artwork, certainly takes up a whole lot of time! As do all the other hobbies and interests people mention in that thread. How do you find the time?
It's often a really hard balance between things like work, family, friends, study, recreation, chores etc, but I find that creative pursuits are more demanding of time than anything else you elect to do: You often can't just drop everything and pick up where you left off with creative projects (unless it's your job and you HAVE to). Creative projects often require a lot of preparation to get started, and even when you're already set up to do them right away and you have a free moment to work away from interruption or interference you still need the right inspiration or the right feeling to get going or it just won't work… which can swallow up even MORE time!
When we're younger all that is a bit easier, we're better at the hyper focus we need to get things done, we don't have as many responsibilities to work around and even when we do we're better at slotting things in and stealing time from the other things we should be doing: avoiding work on our studies, avoiding friends, cutting into sleep…
When you're older you can't focus as easily and you can't take time away from those other things you need to do- you need to work, you don't see your friends often so you can't blow them off, and sleep is an essential commodity!
I once thought that if we could do without sleep we'd add whole third to our working and creative lives… But I don't think it works that way at all. If you cut out sleep you just live 1/3 less. :/
For me the major draws on my time are work, doing art, making comics, managing Drunk Duck, and meeting friends. I fit everything else around that.
There are so many things you want and need to get done. How do you find the time? What's a good balance?
And do you find it easier or harder to do as you get older? I know a lot of people with families find it almost impossible!
BTW- it's Friday the 13th! Ooooooh, scary!!!! I have to do my taxes… D:
NEVER ENOUGH TIIIIMME
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, Oct. 13, 2017
4 likes!
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plymayer at 9:51PM, Oct. 16, 2017
Time is like gravity. The older and fatter a person gets the faster the years go by. At least it seems that way for me...
Emevsa at 8:03PM, Oct. 13, 2017
Some weeks I have my shit together and seem to rock life like a superstar. But there are some weeks my life falling about me and I don't have enough balls to juggle. I'm lucky that I have such a supportive network of people around to help me manage all the the things I do and let me concentrate on the things I love most. :)
AmeliaP at 10:07AM, Oct. 13, 2017
Great article! I agree with everything, less the part about when we're kids. I was stupider, much less focused and wasted my time with useless things. If I could go back to the past, I would kick my kid ass for being so useless that time XD
Udyr at 8:39AM, Oct. 13, 2017
I get borderline crazy and depressed if not working on a comic project, which is why i have to have at least some % of the day dedicated to drawing....EVEN if it means drawing in any breaks i can get, or even less sleep! I also plan most story-related comic stuff on transit back/forth to places. I save a bit time by being a huge introvert (i go out, but its not as much as a hobby basis) and also, my boyfriend does comics too so luckily quality time with him = making comics together/next to each other and tell each other plot-ideas! Living with him saves some time as well. The other half of my time goes to school/work/chores and occasionally friends. Luckily they're introvert too so they dont get too upset if not always having the time to see them. (fyi i live in norway its pig cold here, why go outside if not have to? ).
KimLuster at 6:47AM, Oct. 13, 2017
I love thinking about the Philosophy of Time. It's been said that only Time gives true value to things: special moments in life, falling in love, moments of heroism, etc... Because Time insures these things are limited. You'll only have so many of these 'moments' - that makes them precious! Without time, we either cannot conceive these moments, or they get lost in a endless sea of moments, becoming nothing. I love the quote by Achilles in the movie Troy: “The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”
Ozoneocean at 6:20AM, Oct. 13, 2017
@Scarf- hard sacrifices to make. @Mary - thayou for the inspiration ☺️ @Bravo - yes, for certain instances time can slow down and speed up at any age because adrenaline and the fight or flight makes you notice more etc but all the rest of the time it's different: for kids they notice more because their brains haven't learned to shut things out yet but adults notice less to stop us going insane 😉
bravo1102 at 5:58AM, Oct. 13, 2017
Time is like that throughout a life. Anticipated and enjoyed moments pass quickly and unliked ones take forever. It's well documented human psychology across children and adults. Always amazed me how a 15 second stop light cycle was perceived as lasting as long as five minutes. Thirty seconds in a live fire tank gunnery exercise could be an eternity. Fifteen minutes of combat could seem like days.
mks_monsters at 5:18AM, Oct. 13, 2017
You mentioned me? Oh... you made my day! Thanks! And please, call me Mary. I am not anonymous around here. I want people to put a name to my face on my comic.
Ironscarf at 3:50AM, Oct. 13, 2017
"Oh it's a long, long time, From May to December, But the days grow short, When you reach September..." If I'd known how much time I had on my hands back in the day, I might have done something more with it - but probably not. Now I try to buy time by cutting back on sleep, but that will catch up with me in the end no doubt. If you want to make comics it's probably best to be friendless, alone and unemployable.