Just a day and a few hours from now it's going to be 2020. Do you notice anything? We're already two decades into the "new" millennium! At midnight tomorrow, one-fifth of the 21st century will be gone!
Is it just me or what? But it doesn't seem like it's been a full year since we said goodbye to 2018 and celebrated the arrival of 2019. Even then, I felt that 2018 and 2017 and a number of years prior seemed to pass by in a big hurry. Each was quickly replaced by another.
No doubt, the older you get the faster time flies. There are tonnes of scientific studies to support that. The best explanation for me, however, was one I remembered from poetry class sometime way back in the previous century.
While explaining the meaning of a poem, my teacher said that a person's life is like a journey downstream that ends at a waterfall. The closer we get to the point where the water plunges, the faster the current. Likewise, the nearer we are to the final day of our lives, time seems to speed up. It's so clear and easy to understand. Just thinking about it, I could even hear the sound of the cascades up ahead getting louder and louder.
But even taking that into consideration, I have a strong feeling that each year is going way too fast. It's as if time itself is about to reach the waterfall.
Maybe it's not just age or how busy you are that affects your perception of time. I asked my teenage niece whether she felt each year was quick or slow. Her answer was: "Very, very quick."
In search of other opinions, I looked on the internet and found a video clip of a 21-year-old Londoner venting his frustration about how time was going too fast. It was obvious how much the speed of time was troubling him. The young man was angry and also terrified, so much so that I wasn't sure whether it was the effect of the issue in question or something else.
I scrolled down to find out what other viewers thought. It turned out most of the comments resonated with the views of the poster. And interestingly, many of the comments were from young people. At least two claimed to be 12 years old.
I remember well that at that age I had the feeling that each semester lasted forever, and it was a long wait until New Year or Children's Day.
These days, it's no longer just older people like me who feel the unnatural rush of time. Younger people, be they Gen Y or Gen Z, appear to be feeling it too, despite the fact that they still have a long way to go before they even hear the faint sound of the waterfall.
In a similar vein, things on the internet move by rapidly. Has it ever happened to you that Facebook notifies you about a friend's birthday and you feel it had already happened just a few months ago? Maybe one day anniversaries will lose their importance.
Wait a minute… come to think of it, perhaps the speed of the internet and of time are related. Hmm… I think I'll need to ask my niece.
By the way, I wish you all a great New Year. I hope it lasts a bit longer than this one.
Pongpet Mekloy is the Bangkok Post's travel editor.