What child has never had the anxiety of growing up, becoming an adult and being independent to “do whatever you want”? In fact, the idea of ​​learning to drive, for example, is very seductive, something that loses all its preciousness when you are faced with the costs of maintaining a car and also the chaotic traffic of a big city. When expressing this desire for time to pass quickly and become an adult, children often hear prophetic information from an adult: “be patient, it may take a while until you reach 18, but from then on time will fly”. Finally, the 18th birthday arrives and, in the blink of an eye, the 30th birthday is upon us.
The feeling that time starts to run faster as we get older exists in almost all of us. Childhood and adolescence are marked by periods when they are full of discoveries, so the lack of memorable events in adulthood can help with this perception. Of course this is very relative. For example, it is unfinished torture to be in rush hour traffic. In this kind of situation, it feels like time is an eternity. As humorist JĂ´ Soares explained well: the time of five minutes is relative whether you are inside or outside the bathroom door. Metaphorically speaking, childhood and adolescence is the person who is crammed in and waiting for the bathroom door to open in five minutes. The adult, on the other hand, is the one in the bathroom, doing crossword puzzles and when you'll see, he spent almost half an hour in there, without him even realizing it.
The existing pressures, which are reaching individuals at an increasingly early age, also help in this perception. The fact that everything is urgent and the intense routine makes us think that time has gone by faster. How many times have we heard someone say that they had such a busy day that “they didn't even see the time pass”? These busy days are becoming more and more common for everyone.
Not to mention the math, as obvious as it may seem. A year represents 1/10 of the life of a 10-year-old child, while in the life of an adult with three decades on their back, it represents three times less.
In Greek mythology, time is represented by two gods: Chronos and Kairos. While Chronos represents linear, chronological and quantitative time, his son, Kairos, stood for opportune and qualitative time. That is, there are two ways to measure time: through the clock and also through situations/sensations. A good or bad thing can take some time to happen, but wonderful or catastrophic events can suddenly materialize. Like Chronos and Kairos, the sense of time varies for each of us. If there are two words that can make us happy and sad, depending on the occasion, it is that “everything passes”. Time will heal what hurts us, but you have to be fully aware that time will take what is good for us too.
- Text written by Diego Rennan from the Eu Sem Fronteiras Team.
