Perception of Time

[LadyS]

I started thinking about time and how I currently perceive it in comparison with neurotypicals...

Everyone around me always seem to say that time goes by so fast, in the sense that they're not appreciating things as they should. But for me, time is going so slow. A year feels like 5 years to me. I feel so much older than I am. Even in sleep. I'll only be asleep for a couple hours but it feels like I've been asleep all night. Of course when it comes to delving in my interests time can fly which is I assume is typical for most people.

At the same time I'm time neurotic. Have to be on time for everything (which usually means 10-15 min early). I've gotten a little more lax, probably because of kids, and a chronically late spouse, but not much.

Just wondering if anyone else can relate or how do you perceive time? Been contemplating if time works differently for aspies...

 

[Raggamuffin]

I'm often early to things - especially work. Usually by several hours. it's nice to work in peace and quiet with no people or phones making noise.

As for the passage of time - often it feels slow, at work at least. In my free time - if it's spent doing a variety of things, it tends to go slow. If I'm fixated on one thing, it flies by.

Sleep is usually a bit of a blank. Hard to say if it feels fast or slow. Mostly I don't dream much, if at all. I go to sleep, wake up and recall nothing inbetween.

Ed

 

[Hannibal]

It depends but generally speaking, time goes by slow for me. It's only when I'm engaged in one of my special interests that it goes by fast. I dream a lot and have vivid dreams. Sleeping feels like days. Conversations, errands, and working feels like days too usually.

 

[Bort]

Time seemed a lot slower as a kid. For example, it would be the beginning of December, and Christmas would be less than a month away, yet it seemed to take forever for Christmas Day to arrive. Summer break also seemed to last a long time. Sometime around high school, summer break just didn't seem very long at all. Now as an adult, an eight hour shift at work can seem slow, a semester at school can seem fast, and looking back at international events that happened within a year can seem like they occurred over the course of three years, yet the year seemed to go by so fast. Anyway, I think the perception of time is weird, and it can be perceived differently by different people and for each person it's perceived differently for different times.

 

[Hylian]

When I was a kid time overall went by very slowly, but now time seems to go by faster. In Kindergarten the 3 or so hours I was at school felt like a whole day had gone by, and now 3 hours feels like nothing. Days do feel like they drag on still, but that's more from depression and boredom than anything else. A month could also feel like a whole year to me, but now a whole year only feels like a few months have gone by.

I think for me it's just because I've been alive longer. As a kid I was alive for a lot less time in total, so a year or a month made up a bigger percentage of that, but the older I get the more a day, month, or whatever unit of time becomes more insignificant.

 

[_eri_bellehumeur]

Related to your note, I am also always around 10 minutes early, and take meeting times pretty seriously. If somebody says "we're leaving in 15 minutes", or "..at 6:30", I will be ready for precisely those times.

Time moves differently for me depending on my life at the moment. When I am alone, it seems to pass by very slowly, again like you, with the exception of when I am engaging in any of my special interests. Out in the world though where other people are, time and everything else moves fast fast fast.