Where did the time go?

I am sure everyone can relate to having the following thought at some point in their life, and that thought is "where did the time go?" It feels like just yesterday I hugged my mom deeply and shook my dad's hand proudly as I graduated High School. Now I am halfway through my college career, about to turn 21, no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life, and I have no idea how I even got to being where I am now.

Seriously, where did the time go? 

Some people spend entire nights thinking where the time went, but in reality it is one of those questions in life we simply cannot answer. In the past month alone, I have been though countless sleepless nights of just thinking. Among those nights and the series of different thoughts I had, no matter how hard I wanted an answer to this question, I never got one.

After thinking about this thought for some time, I came to some vague conclusions. The reason why I think time flies by so fast is because we put metaphorical blinders on and go through each day focusing on our immediate or long-term future and forgoing all that should be remembered in the now.

We forget to slow things down and enjoy the simple things we are privileged to have within our lives. A great man from an even greater film once taught me a lesson on time that I will never forget. A man by the name of Ferris Bueller from the classic 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off by John Hughes once said "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Now lets think about that for a second, a simple sentence from a movie that is 19 words long could be the difference between you waking up tomorrow and being a day older or waking up being years older. Deep stuff right?

My Answer

We are all subject to getting older, it is a fact of life. The only true answer I can give someone is that what you do right now to make the best use of your time is going to be that answer you will one day come to realize. I know I do not know where my own time has gone yet, but I look forward to the day when I do look back and finally can answer this taunting question, this thought of ours.  

If you think you can answer my initial question on where the time has gone, please comment and share your thoughts on this thought.

Just remember, a thought is just a thought until you think about why you thought that thought, and that is thought-ception.

Until next time,
Matt