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Why the Days Are Long But the Years Roll By
How “memory sinks” erode your life
Since 2015, I’ve been living in the same place and working for the same company. I’ve made the commute between my office and my house more times than I care to count. Sometimes, I’ll get home from work and I’ll find myself surprised to be there; the entire 20 minute commute might as well have not even happened.
Unfortunately, what is happening to me when I forget my commute is the same thing that’s happening to all of us as we get older. It’s the reason why time seems like it’s getting faster with each passing year.
To break the cycle and restore a sense of fullness to our lives, we’ll need to understand how our brain works, and what we need to do to get it slow time down.
The Curse of the “Memory Sink”
I first learned about the concept of a “memory sink” while listening to a podcast where Laura Vanderkam was the guest. She’s the author of time management books like Off the Clock and personal finance books like All the Money in the World (which I reviewed here).
She points out that our brains are designed to save space and weed out things that are unnecessary. So if your commute today was the same as your commute yesterday, which was also the same as your commute…
