Slowing down time in 2023
3 tips to help you enjoy the new year!
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Introduction
As humans age, we experience the passage of time through a faster lens. The novelties of discovery, new foods, and spontaneity leave our consciousness due to the repetitive nature of our lives. During our childhood, we used to receive tidbits of information that were foreign every day. However, adulthood brings a sense of monotonous cycles engulfed in work, commutes, and predictable dinners. Researchers have found circular days, meaning days that look incredibly similar, combined with the neurological effects of aging force us to prolong our processing time and make the clock “go faster”.1 It is not all lost, however. While we don’t have much control over the way in which our brains process time, we can make significant changes to how we experience our days and make the most of them! Here are three tips that will help you slow down in 2023:
Reframe your attention
One technique to slow down the new year is to create pockets of focused attention. Achieved mostly by analog actions, our brains adapt to slower processes and create a meaningful experience when we interact with tangible objects. Painting, learning to play an instrument, reading a book, putting a puzzle together, or building legos send novel information and increase both life satisfaction and our ability to finish one project at a time. In turn, our future days and work schedules benefit from these activities as we eliminate distractions by future concerns. By contemplating what is in front of us through physical objects, the ideas of retirement, new job prospects, and the impeding rent payments dissipate to give a new place to the present moment as it is. The encounter of human-to-human or human-to-physical objects now corresponds to a slower, and more enjoyable, part of our day and not a simple rite of passage.
In contrast, digital activities, such as web browsing, Tik Tok, and email, make our time pass by faster due to the way they release information. On digital platforms, the goal is to slice your attention and time into manageable segments. This is why the proliferation of shorter content has been on the rise for the past several years. It is easier to waste your time in 1-minute allocations than grabbing it in a 15-minute video. The shorter content is not only detrimental to our life management skills but also shallower in meaning and information delivery. Learning how to financial plan through a one-minute Tik Tok, for example, is less efficacious than sitting down with a professional for 1 hour of your time. Digital platforms have fooled us into thinking that we can achieve mastery of a topic through a 5 minute YouTube crash course instead of making ample time to practice, fail, and learn from our mistakes. Therefore, regaining our attention will help us in slowing down in 2023 and aid us in not succumbing to the pressing timeframe of the digital world.
Vis-à-Vis
Experiencing time must be a shared experience. Over the weekend, I went to watch Avatar: The Way of Water. It was a great movie, in my opinion, but I made the mistake of going by myself. The glorious effects, joyful 3D pictures, and incredible lessons drawn from the movie stayed in the confines of my being. I had no one to share this time with and while I could have waited to watch it with friends, I chose to be impatient. The second tip to slow down 2023 is to have experiences with others. Generally, I am a big advocate of alone time. It is important to have time to process your thoughts and experience boredom. However, shared time with others is equally important.
With the advent of Facetime, WhatsApp video, and Zoom we are told that we can communicate with anyone in the world at any time. Yet, during my work Zoom meetings, I find myself frequently just listening in the background and doing other work tasks while I “meet” with people. There is nothing like a face-to-face conversation with friends, loved ones, and even acquaintances. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to meet up with some of you that live in Colorado. We talked about dumbphones, digital minimalism, and random topics at hand. While time seemed to have passed by quickly, I enjoyed the coffee, the talk, and the improvement in my day. There are very few activities that will raise your dopamine more than a hug from a loved one or a great conversation with a stranger. Focusing on people as they are and where they are is the biggest service we can do to our time and to humanity. Digital devices came to make our life “more convenient.” They have left us wandering, mentally broken, and isolated.2
Eliminate Excess
This one is hard. It takes discipline and being willing to make difficult choices. I am not going to create the illusion that we can all be minimalists with 33 items of clothing, have a dumbphone, and travel around the world with our FIRE3 funds. Most people work 8 to 9 hours and come back exhausted and enjoy the little leisure that life affords us. However, we all have excess in our lives. It can be found underneath our beds or in the fridge. Sometimes it's found inside. Our minds are cluttered with ideals for the future, stress, anxiety, and the fight you had with your friend last night.
We consume, spend, and throw away indiscriminately. We work in a dead end job because we think that's the only option. Yet, there is another path. Maybe your current work situation needs a revamp. Maybe, you need to step outside of your comfort zone and restart in a new city. Maybe, you need to move out of your priced out apartment and downsize. Whatever is stressing most of your money, attention, and time can be the culprit of your excess. For me, it’s been my dining out bill this past month. The holidays are a difficult time for me and I take refuge with food as my ally. However, $120 for eating out by myself in the past 30 days is excess. Excess that I am not willing to continue as a habit for 2023. I must cook and enjoy the process. Savor the food in the making and create safeguards for my future.
Excess presents itself everyday. We choose to indulge in it or a more sustainable way. Make an inventory of your excess. Eating out, too much shopping, purchasing the new gadget, working after hours, or gaming for extended periods of time. Whatever your excess is, cut it and replace it with wholesome activities that make your life better. Go on a walk, talk to a friend, read a book, make a DIY project, don’t procrastinate on your assignment. The simpler our lives are, the more enjoyable we’ll become.
Conclusion
I’m glad you made it this far. Hope these 3 tips help you slow down in 2023 and regain some joy. I know I am looking forward to a year where it doesn’t feel like it flew by, but where my personal flourishing was my top priority.
Check this short summary of the study: https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/no-not-just-time-speeds-get-older/
Read this great article (you can read it in full since I have gifted it via NYT) about teens ditching smartphones for dumbphones and finding time to spend time with each other: Luddite Teens Don’t Want Your Likes.
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