The older you get, the quicker time seems to move. In 2020, the time has both contracted and expanded in ways that didn’t seem possible. Days in lockdown felt neverending but somehow the year is nearly over. How does that work?!
To grasp time a little better and make the days feel like they’re not slipping by in a confusing blur requires a change in mindset and as mindbodygreen points out, many of us function with a “scarcity mindset” — one which means the mind automatically focuses on unfulfilled needs.
“Scarcity is not just a physical limitation. Scarcity affects our thinking and feeling,” Psychology Today explains. “For example, food grabs the focus of the hungry. For the lonely person, scarcity may come in poverty of social isolation and a lack of companionship.”
Holistic psychiatrist Ellen Vora, M.D. explained the concept in a TikTok video and pointed out how those who are addicted to being busy or feel like their to-do list is neverending often fall into the scarcity mindset category.
In order to flip this thinking, Vora recommends reclaiming your time. An example of this is to go for a walk, even for just five minutes. Pausing what you’re doing to take some time out is effective at helping reclaim your time.
“That sends a signal of abundance to your brain rather than a signal of scarcity,” Vora said. “It starts to make you feel like you have enough, and everything starts to work a little more smoothly.”
While there isn’t a secret way to increase the number of hours in your day, flipping from a scarcity mindset to one of abundance is a good place to start. Creating defined breaks for yourself allows you to step off the hamster wheel and hopefully, slow down the speed in which time seems to be travelling.
Another way to reclaim your time is by creating strict rules around screentime. We literally spend hours of our day glued to our phones and while scrolling Instagram might bring you enjoyment, it’s also sucking a lot of your time.
Think about how you feel when your ‘Screen Time’ report pops up on Sunday morning and says you’ve been on your phone for an average of four hours per day. It doesn’t feel great, right? Times that amount by seven days and you’re looking at 28 waking hours of your week spent on your phone.
Reclaiming even an hour or two in your week away from your phone would make a huge difference and give you more time to complete any tasks, which in turn would help flip your mindset.
Time is a fickle thing and something we’ll never quite master but attempting to stay present each day coupled with changes to the way you think about time should help you reclaim a little time in your day which you can spend doing things you enjoy.