Anxious about the passage of time

[rosesbloom]

I wrote the date down earlier and felt this pang of sadness and fear(?) realising that it is October and most of the year has passed. I'm only in my 20s yet it just feels like time goes by so quickly.

Does anyone else experience this?

[CormoranStrike]

Oh yes, and this year more than ever of course.

[hippohector]

I’ve felt this more since having DC.
With every passing year they get bigger and more independent, which is obviously a good thing! But it does highlight how quickly time goes by.
It feels like only yesterday DS was a baby.. it certainly does not feel like 15 years have passed since I first brought him home from the hospital. And every year on his birthday it makes me think how I am another year older too (It’s strange but I don’t really feel like this on my own birthday, just on his).

Sometimes it feels like time is slipping away. I think “one day I’ll do xyz” but then realise that, realistically, maybe I won’t.

It’s all very well trying to ‘make each day count’ but with the monotony and responsibilities of day to day life it’s very easy for time to pass us by.

Sorry, just read that back and it’s a bit depressing!

[Time2change2]

Yes absolutely. Sometimes I have to stop myself obsessing about it because then I am wasting the time I have! It’s made 100x worse having DC because I just don’t want my time with them as children to be up!
I try to make the most of every month and week but it goes so so fast.
The most depressing thing I think about sometimes is laying in bed, I look at the wall or the curtains and I think, any moment now I’m going to be looking with these same eyes but my face will be wrinkled and haggard and I will be 80 and my life gone!
I really struggle with it

[rosesbloom]

It's reassuring that I am not the only one. It definitely feels worse this year with COVID. Lockdown went by so quickly I can barely remember all of those days at home for weeks on end...

I feel like it all boils down to feeling like I am not making the most of my life, but I just don't know how?

[Saz12]

Same! Awful feeling / knowledge.

[Anordinarymum]

@rosesbloom

It's reassuring that I am not the only one. It definitely feels worse this year with COVID. Lockdown went by so quickly I can barely remember all of those days at home for weeks on end...

I feel like it all boils down to feeling like I am not making the most of my life, but I just don't know how?

What would you like to do ?

[2018SoFarSoGreat]

you are not alone, @rosesbloom.

I keep thinking that I'm losing that close connection with my DGS's. The little one is just 4, and we were just getting to that really easy time of him staying over, and really knowing what to do that he most enjoyed. The cuddles on the couch, and the stories at bedtime.

Older one is 9 almost 10, and I'm so afraid that he won't want any more cuddles on the couch OR me to sing him to sleep. By the time this is over, I mean.

Bloody heart breaking.

[Aquamarine1029]

The older you get, the faster the years go. Just wait until you're in your 40's and beyond. It's like the blink of an eye.

[notangelinajolie]

Haha wait till you are in your 50's

[tartantroosers]

Depressing but comforting to know that so many of us feel this way. My son is 13, nearly 14 and all of a sudden the cuddles are not 'on demand' any more :-(. Have brought him up in my own since he was born and am starting to feel real pangs of loneliness - so happy he is becoming independent but also terrified.

[gluteustothemaximus]

I first felt like this in my 20s. Hit me like a thunderbolt.

I'm nearly 40 and my eldest has turned 18. It gets faster and the feeling doesn't change

I just try and be grateful even when things are shit. Nothing is permenant. Enjoy whatever time you have with the people you love. Cut out the shite. Life really is too short x

[daisydalrymple]

I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and it’ll be spring again and we can enjoy it all in freedom. Instead I just turned 49 and I honestly don’t know where the years have gone so far. I have three DCs and am trying to invest in my relationships with them all individually as they grow, rather than clinging on to the baby years that we’ve moved on from.
Make the most of every moment!!

[lostintranslation78]

THIS.
Low level anxiety and depression because of it. COVID has created such a feeling of disillusionment. Pollution and traffic are getting me down. DSs are teens faces are changing and their vulnerability in a busy world breaks my heart. Just go through the motions these days. Joy is gone. I’m sad you feel the way you do at such a young age OP.

[LilyLongJohn]

Yes I hear you op. I'm in my late 40s, and that just doesn't somehow feel real. How did that happen? I now keep thinking I've lived over half my life. My mum died at 70, so that means I only have 30 something years left. I guess at least a third of that will be me being old and unable to do the things I do, so actually I've only got about 20 years left to do all the things I want to. That makes me quite sad