English Listening - Time Flies
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Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast. Hey everybody, this is Connor, and you're listening to episode 203 of the Listening Time Podcast.

Thank you all for listening. I hope that your English learning is going great. I hope that you're having fun with this podcast while learning English. And in today's episode, I want to talk about time and specifically, I want to talk about the fact that for me, it feels like time is going by super fast. The older I get, the

the faster it seems that time is moving. And it's not something that I necessarily like, but it's something that I feel and I'd like to talk about it today. I want to talk about this feeling and talk about some examples of this. And I think this episode will kind of be a reflection, just some thoughts, thoughts,

You'll get a peek inside my head, and I'm sure a lot of you will be able to identify with this feeling, especially if you're older. I think that as we age, we really feel this more. So I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about. And if you're listening right now and you're

My speaking sounds pretty understandable to you and you have no problem comprehending what I'm saying without using the transcript.

then it's time for you to start using my advanced podcast episodes in which I speak fast so you can train your ears to understand real English when it's spoken at normal speed. So if you want those, the link to sign up is down below. And you can also sign up for my U.S. Conversations podcast in which I talk to native speakers from all over the world.

Are your ears ready? You know what time it is. It's listening time.

Okay, let's talk about time flying, time going by fast. So let me talk about this in relation to age. So one way that we can think about this is that if you're young, let's say you're five years old. Well, one year is a fifth of your life. That's 20%.

of your whole life that you've lived. So in that sense, one year is a lot because you haven't been here on this earth for that long. One year is 20% of the time you've been on earth. You've been alive. But if you're 50, for example, one year is a lot smaller of a fraction of your life.

Right. That's only one 50th of your life. So that percentage is much lower. Right. And so I think because of that, when we get older, each year seems to be shorter because it's a smaller fraction of our lives. Really? Yeah.

I don't know if that makes sense to you, but that's kind of how I think about it. And as you age, this fraction gets smaller and smaller, and time seems to go by faster and faster. At least that's how I feel. I don't know about you. When I was a kid, I felt a lot differently, actually. When I was a kid...

Time seemed to go by pretty slowly, actually. I remember that each school year felt really long to me, and we would celebrate at the end of the school year because it felt like we had been in school for a really long time. That's how it always felt.

And I don't have that feeling anymore. When the year ends now, I think, wow, it's already over. That's crazy. But when I was younger, school years especially went by really slowly. I remember that when it got to like April, for example, I

we would start to get excited, like, whoa, we're getting closer to the end of the school year, which was usually in June. And it felt so exciting because it felt like we had been in that grade for so long and we were finally reaching the finish line. I remember that feeling really vividly.

And the same goes for summer break. I remember, especially when I was really young, summer break seemed to last a long time. We had like two and a half months of summer break for most of my childhood.

And I remember that by the end of summer break, we were all sick of summer. Like we were just ready to go back to school. We were excited for the next school year. Obviously we had some feelings, uh, that were a little negative, like, oh man, uh,

We're going to have homework again and we're going to have to do hard tasks and things like that. But in general, summer always felt really long and we wanted to get back into school really to see our friends and start our social life again and feel that excitement of a new school year because summer kind of dragged on.

When something drags on, that means that it seems to go by very slowly and maybe in a boring way. So summer would sometimes drag on and it felt really long and we just wanted to get back into school.

Nowadays, it doesn't feel very long. For me, summer seems to pass in the blink of an eye, as we say, meaning it passes really fast. And when I was a teenager, I also had this feeling that time was going by so slowly because I really wanted to be an adult.

I think many teenagers can identify with that feeling, like you're waiting to become an adult, an independent person.

That was something that was really exciting for people when I was in high school, at least. And it felt like I had to wait a really long time for that to happen. And my last couple years of high school were not the best, especially my last year. I just didn't have much of a social life.

It wasn't my best year of school. And that year seemed to drag on and on. And I just wanted it to end. I just wanted to...

graduate and start my real life, quote unquote. So I was really excited about getting older and becoming an adult and being independent and doing my own thing. And it felt like I had to wait so long for that to happen. And then as a young adult, I remember that time started to

seem to go by

a little faster, but still not like right now. Um, because I remember, uh, waiting, uh, to get married to my wife actually, because, uh, I was in college and she was in college, uh, and we were waiting to get married, uh, until I had graduated college and I didn't have a great college experience. Uh,

I didn't like my program. I just wanted to graduate. It was kind of like my last year of high school now that I think about it. But I had the added anticipation of getting married because my wife and I knew we were going to get married once I graduated and I was going to move down to Mexico. It was an exciting idea, an exciting prospect, an

for my future but I felt like I had to wait a long time especially because I didn't have a whole lot of fun when I was in college I had some friends but I really just wanted to finish and be done with it and

get married, start my married life, move down to Mexico, and do all that. And time seemed to go by pretty slowly. Not like when I was a kid, but still, it seemed to go by slower than it does now, for sure. I think ever since I got married, time has progressively gone by faster. It seems like every year...

time goes by even faster than the year before. So now at my current age, each year is a smaller fraction of my life. It seems to pass very fast. And not only that, but there are just a lot of things that I need to do. As an adult, there are more responsibilities. And there

There are a lot of things that keep me busy during the day. And when you're busy, when you're constantly doing things, time goes by pretty fast. And before you know it, a lot of time has already gone by and you didn't even realize it.

And that's something that happens when you're just busy with a lot of things that you need to do and responsibilities. And time also flies when you're having fun. We say that time flies when you're having fun. It just means that when you're having fun, time seems to go faster. So

Not only does time go by fast when I have a lot of responsibilities, but I also feel this when I'm just having fun.

Right. It's like, oh, man, the day's already over. That was fun. I wish I had more hours to talk to this person to do this thing, to do that activity. So when you do things, time goes by fast. It's when you do nothing that time seems to go by slowly. I think like if you're just sitting in a chair doing nothing the whole day, you're

time probably goes by pretty slowly. Or for example, when you're on an airplane, you're on a long flight, time tends to go by pretty slowly. I think that the fact that I have so many things that I need to do or not just responsibilities, but fun things, I just do a lot with my time because of that.

time, uh, seems to go by fast. And I always have this feeling that there's not enough time in the day. Sometimes I, uh, just, uh, fantasize about having an extra hour in the day. What if I had 25 hours instead of 24? Or for example, what if I only needed to sleep, um,

seven hours instead of eight or whatever. Like that seems like a very attractive thought. Like, wow, I would have a whole extra hour to do whatever I want. And I have that fantasy because it seems like I don't have enough time in my day. I'm sure some of you can identify with this. It's a little frustrating because I,

I'm someone who has a lot of goals. I'm pretty ambitious. I think that some of you already know that. I really like taking on challenges. I love learning. I love trying new things and just doing a lot of stuff, really. And it's frustrating when I can't really do all the things I want to do because of time, not because of any other...

factor or whatever. And of course, I've said this before, if you don't have enough time to do an activity, it's probably because you aren't prioritizing that activity. And I stand by that statement.

When you stand by a statement, that means that you continue to believe something that was said. So I stand by that statement. However, like there are some things that I'm not prioritizing because I can only prioritize so many things, right? I can only do so many things during my day, especially as a

husband and a parent. So even though some things I'm just not doing because they aren't high on the priority list, that doesn't mean that I don't want to do those things. Like if I had an extra five hours or something, I would definitely spend those hours doing these other things. But I

Of course, because I have to prioritize, I'm going to prioritize the more important things. Like one thing that I talked about some episodes ago now is that I want to learn to play the piano. I've actually played a little bit. I've been practicing a little bit, but I definitely haven't prioritized it as much as other things like language learning.

for example. And that doesn't mean I don't want to learn to play the piano. I do, but, uh, I am going to prioritize the more important things in my life, um, like language learning. And that leaves me a little frustrated, like, ah, I wish I had an extra hour so that I could do my piano practice, uh,

because that's lower on the priority list, so I might not get to it every day. So you get my point. I feel like there's just not enough time in the day. I don't like this feeling. I don't like the feeling that every year time goes by faster. There's so much I want to do. There are so many goals that I have, so many things I'd like to do, places I'd like to see, places

objectives I'd like to accomplish. And I also just don't necessarily like the physical act of getting older, time going by faster and me feeling like, oh man, I'm getting older very quickly. Some things are just easier to do when you're younger, right? And I sometimes have the thought, oh man, if I don't do this now,

Am I going to be able to do it later? I don't like that thought, right? And, oh, one thing that has been really shocking to me and my wife has been how quickly our kids are growing up. It is just crazy how fast it seems that they...

just grow physically, they get taller, they develop, they learn new skills and you're just like, oh, slow down. You miss the phases that they were in before. Like you want them to be in that phase for longer so you can enjoy the cuteness of that phase for longer.

We've been looking back through old photos recently, and we've definitely felt that nostalgia for the younger version of our son. Like, oh man, how is it possible that he's grown so much so quickly? If you have kids, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. It's one of the worst things about being a parent is feeling...

feeling like they're just growing up too fast. Obviously, I like the fact that my kids are growing up, obviously. But what I'm talking about is you want more time with them in each phase. You want to enjoy them even more than you already do. That's just kind of what it's like when you're a parent. So that can be frustrating.

And I can also feel like I'm not achieving my goals on time because of how fast time seems to be going. Like my language learning goals, I feel like before I made those goals, I thought, okay, like I think six months is a decent amount of time to do this or achieve that.

But then suddenly those six months have gone by and I'm like, how did that happen? That was so fast. I didn't achieve my goal. So I feel like that. I just kind of want everything to slow down. I think you can feel that frustration, right? I just want things to be slower. But this is life, okay? And so...

I want to close this episode by talking about what I want my response to be, uh,

when I feel like this, right? And this is something I've been feeling a lot recently. And it's not good to just whine and complain about time going by fast, right? That's not the proper response. I think the first thing is that it's good to not fear aging. We shouldn't be scared of getting older. We should embrace it. Like this is what is supposed to happen.

you know, time goes by, we get older, uh, don't fight this, right? Just embrace it. Don't, uh, feel this anxiety about getting older. Uh, you know, feel excited about getting older. I know that that can be a little hard when you're already an adult, but I think that that's

a more, let's say a healthier response to this type of feeling like, Hey, I don't need to

be all anxious about the years going by and me getting older. This is what's supposed to happen. Let me enjoy my 30s. Oh, I can't wait for my 40s. I'm going to make my 40s my best decade ever, right? That's a better attitude to have. I think another thing is we just need to enjoy the current season.

If you're 15 right now, I'm sure that you have a little bit of, let's say, anxiety about wanting to be an adult and like that.

I did when I was that age. I wanted to be older and independent. And that's natural. But I think it's good to enjoy that age. Enjoy being 15. I wish I could go back to my 17-year-old self and say, hey,

just enjoy this period. You're not always going to feel this young and energetic and with all this excitement and energy and wanting to do a lot of stuff. Enjoy this period and don't waste this year just waiting to be an adult. I think it's good to enjoy the current season. I want to try to

just enjoy what's happening right now and not worry about time going by and just be content with my life right now. And if there are some areas in which I'm not content, I should work on changing those areas. And so I want to appreciate the present moment and just enjoy this current season. I think it's important to really reflect on

and ask myself, okay, time's going by fast. How do I want to be spending the time that I have? Right? If it's going by so fast, let me make sure that I'm actually spending my time how I want to spend my time. Right? Am I really spending my time currently, the way that

I would like to be spending it. And if the answer is no, then I need to change some things, right? So I think that this type of reflection is healthy because...

you might not have realized that you're wasting a lot of time doing things that you don't really want to do. And so it's good to stop and ask yourself these types of questions and see the bigger picture. Like recently, my wife and I have been talking about a possible trip that we want to take. And I always kind of feel like, ah, man,

I don't know if it's the right time now. That's kind of complicated. It's kind of expensive. I don't know how feasible that is, meaning how possible that is. And I was talking to her about this trip and I said, you know what? It's never going to be easier. Like,

As we get older, it's not going to suddenly get easier to take a trip like this. Like if we really want to do this, let's just commit to doing it. Is this how we want to spend our time and our money?

If no, then okay, let's move on and not do it. But if we can step back and reflect for a minute and say, yeah, we do want to spend our time and our money doing this, then let's do it. Let's commit to it. So we kind of had that discussion in the last few days, and it was important for us to kind of reflect about that.

That topic and about our time and about the fact that as we get older, some things might not be as easy. And so we should do some things now that.

we might only be able to do now, right? And lastly, just some practical things. I want to organize my time better and organize my routine and my activities better. So I feel like I'm making better use of my time. And so I don't feel like the day is just

slipping away from me. Like it's just going by and I, uh, feel like I'm left behind. Right. Uh, I want to organize more. I want to set my goals, um, in a clearer way. So I know, uh, what I'm supposed to be doing and make sure that, uh, I'm using my time to do things that I want to do. Right. Obviously prioritizing is a big one. Uh,

I want to make sure my priorities are in order. And maybe playing the piano needs to be a greater priority in my life. If I really want to do it, maybe I need to bump it up a little bit on the priority list. So I'll probably do some reflection about that in the near future.

And just in general, I want to waste less time. Of course, we're all going to waste some time. We're not perfectly efficient, but I'd like to keep that to a minimum. I don't want to waste a bunch of time and realize that I've been doing things that I don't want to do, things that haven't...

helped me out in any way and aren't serving any purpose. So just wasting less time, right? So I think that's all I wanted to talk about today. This episode was a little different. I think

It was just kind of a reflection. You probably saw that this is something that I've been thinking about recently, something that has frustrated me a little bit. And I don't want to be frustrated by this. I want to respond in the right way and really just see things more positively when it comes to this topic of time and aging and all of that. So

I hope you enjoyed this episode and that it was good practice for your listening. Remember that you can check out my advanced podcast episodes in which I speak fast by becoming a Listening Time family member. That link is down below. That's patreon.com slash listening time. And you can also check out my U.S. Conversations podcast in which I have conversations with people from around the U.S.,

We talk at normal speed. I provide the transcript with the definitions of key words and phrases.

It's great practice for your listening. So if you want that, that link is down below as well. That's patreon.com slash usconversations. And as always, please give this podcast a five-star rating and write a review if you can. All right. Thank you so much for listening to this episode, and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.