Every year-end brings with it a spate of fresh resolutions; countless top ten lists, extra workload and one oft repeated remark. “Where did the year disappear?” Facebook posts and Twitter updates constantly bemoan the loss of yet another year, which had “just started” and “got over, already”. So, while we are not repeating the many
quotations about trying to catch time, considering you probably know them by heart already, we still do wonder, is there no way to stop the year from treating us like a late-night cab-hailing bystander? Or we can actually try to live the year rather than watch it simply pass by?
Now, managing a hectic work life, family outings and even a hectic nightlife, understandably time is going to act like a jealous girlfriend and not wait for us while we have all the fun. So, stopping it from flying away is definitely not going to work here. But what might be a little helpful is doing things one wouldn’t normally do, trying new hobbies, going on picnics and actually making newer friends. Raghav Mandava, a stand-up comic wants to live by the cheesy yet true adage of living every month as if it were the last. “People end up hanging out with the same people and talking about and doing the same things, so it feels that nothing really new happened,” he tells us.
As unbelievable as it may sound, most people are really modest about the exciting things they do. Even after the ball-by-ball updates about their every meal, motion and move everybody tends to forget what he or she achieved, until it is visibly documented. And, yes we are looking at you too, the pathologically shameless updater. So, maintain a diary or write things and revisit them, as Senior Brand Manager Piyush Kumar likes to do by updating his blog. “I think pre planning the year ahead in various short-term goals, which could be anything from buying a car to proposing to your girl, and actually achieving them gives a sense of fulfilment,” he tells us.
But the same fleeting time turns into an old lady climbing the stairs, with you walking right behind, when you try to run those 15 minutes on the treadmill. It’s actually worse to have time pass by while doing something you abhor, for then you would actually be losing out on life. Music producer Jatin Puri is thankful that he kills time while doing something he loves though would still want to make it memorable. “As we grow older, time seems to pass much faster, for say at about 10 years of age, a year is about 10 per cent of your life but when you’re 50, it’s only two per cent. So, the key is to find out things you like and do them,” he tells us.