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> reviewing old entries provides a feeling of history that makes life feel soooo long and so rich.

This doesn't sound right at all. For me, and I suspect for most people, it has the opposite effect. It makes life feel short, fleeting and mundane. Looking back to 2014, I can't believe how quickly the past 10 years has gone. Heck just looking back 4 years, the pandemic years seems to have flown by. It's like a distant memory now.

> but for me the perception of the shortness of life is best fought by reminding yourself that it is not short

So it isn't journaling at all. You are just rationalizing.

Life is precious because it is short and fleeting. And it's why people keep a journal. To keep track of precious time. It's also why parents keep a scrapbook of their kids. Because in a blink of an eye, the kids grow up and leave the nest.

If you truly thought life wasn't short, you wouldn't keep a journal. You'd just live and not keep track of time.



Agree. When I look at my photo collection it can glance at my entire life since ~1998 to present in just a few moments. It feels extremely short.


> It makes life feel short, fleeting and mundane

I read somewhere else that time speeds up when we repeat a few boring/not-so-stressful things each day.

> reviewing old entries provides a feeling of history that makes life feel soooo long and so rich

I want to agree with it. The more I take on and do, however imperfectly and which involves a bit more stress, it starts to slow down time. At least in the sense that you look back at the previous year and think "wow that was a lot and it seems like so long ago" when it actually wasn't that long ago.

> It makes life feel short, fleeting and mundane

In fact, the key might be to journal more of the mundane things. Like how many times I had to get on a call with the background verification company to speed up my move to the new company.

and from OP article,

> Surprising information comes in droves every single day, so the brain simply paid a lot of attention

how come all the new/surprising info from shorts/reels/tiktok not have a effect of slowing down time haha?


> Heck just looking back 4 years, the pandemic years seems to have flown by. It's like a distant memory now.

I'm confused, does it feel recent or very long ago? This seems to contradict your previous sentence. If 10 years has gone past quickly, how could the pandemic feel like a distant memory? In that case it should feel like yesterday


I think he has forgotten most of the memories related to pandemic, so it feels like distant memory, only bits and pieces left.


Okay but again that makes it sound like it feels very long ago, not recent


> Life is precious because it is short and fleeting.

Here's another viewpoint. Life is not precious at all because it is short and fleeting. Muslim here. We believe only the parts of this life which pertain to afterlife are precious, as afterlife is eternal instead of temporary. This life is merely an end to a means. It doesn't need to be a goal in and of itself because there's another life after it.


Of course , when a religion creates a Houri why would actual life be precious?


Your comment comes off as rather snarky. Please make substantial and constructive comments on HN.


Maybe 10% snarky and 90% insightful for those that don't know what Houri is and can mean by different interpretations.

My point is that if I believed in a religion [and a specific interpretation of God's written word] that said I could get to heaven with 72 Houri by committing murder then [actual] life would not be precious at all.

Please note, I'm not suggesting YOUR beliefs or interpretation of the text, but it cannot be debated that a sizable amount [in nominal terms] believe this.


> the pandemic years seems to have flown by. It's like a distant memory now.

So does it feel distant or just like yesterday (i.e. time flew by)? The two seem contradictory.


Life is long, provided you don't just waste your time with nonsense. Even eternity wouldn't be long enough for the compulsive procrasturbator.


> Life is long, provided you don't just waste your time with nonsense.

Life is short whether you waste it on nonsense or not. It's the nature of human life.

> Even eternity wouldn't be long enough for the compulsive procrasturbator.

Sure. But eternity isn't enough for the most accomplished either. There is a reason why the emperor of china

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/2000-year-old-text...

and steve jobs

https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/2...

both wanted to prolong their lives. I don't think anyone would characterize the emperor of china nor steve jobs as 'procrasturbators'.

You make it sound like active people ( who don't waste their time ) feel that life is long when it's precisely the opposite. It's those who don't waste their time who want to live longer because they have so much more to do.

Then again, 'wasting time' is a concern for many precisely because life is short.


Disagree. Set realistic goals, achieve them, and finish your life satisfied that you've done what you set out to do. Constantly demanding more is a recipe for being unsatisfiable.

If I died today, I'd do so happy that I checked off the most important things on my list. I gain nothing by adding another 100 things to the list just so I can say that life is too short. It's long enough for what I want to do; anything more is a bonus.


> Life is long, provided you don't just waste your time with nonsense. Even eternity wouldn't be long enough for the compulsive procrasturbator.

Is it possible you are projecting your own insecurities, given that you are commenting on HN during work hours on a weekday, of all things?


I retired from tech, and it's the off-season on the farm.




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