Making your weekend feel like a week

Although we can’t time travel, we can do one thing that’s pretty close. We can control our perception of time. You know that feeling of getting away for a 3 day weekend, coming home and feeling like you’ve been away for a week? How does that happen? What makes us perceive time so differently on these holidays? Why do some weeks fly past, and some feel like an eternity? The slowing and speeding up of our perception of time is a shared human experience, and a unique one. So how can we utilise this to our advantage?

You see that mate? It's the weekend!

When your mind experiences new things, it spends a lot of energy sifting, sorting and analyzing the new data. It needs to categorize and store. Adding just one or two new experiences to a day will force your brain to stay active and alert. Your mind is forced to snap out of cruise control and pay attention. A simple way to make your days feel longer is to consistently visit new places. Take yourself on journeys down different paths to different places. This is generally what we do on small holidays. We jam our  exposure to new things in a very small window of time, forcing each day to feel much larger than what it really is.

Imagine trying to make sense of this creature

This is also why when you are a child, each day feels like a lifetime. Of course, each day is a larger percentage of your whole life, but you’re also taking in new experiences every single moment. It’s hard to excite the adult mind with new things. Many things in practical reach have been seen or done before. This is the reason why the car ride to a destination feels like it takes forever, but the car ride home is only a matter of minutes. It’s because on the way there, your brain is taking in the journey, trying to make sense of new paths. On the way home however, it’s merely a repeat trip. All of the patterns are now on repeat, and so the mind can stay in neutral. 

Sometimes being in neutral won't get you anywhere

Perception is a powerful tool, and one that should be considered carefully as part of our mental toolbox. Of course, it’s not always beneficial to make your days feel longer. Sometimes it can be useful to spend time in routine. Consistent, cozy and habitable routine. Maybe you need to pass the time until graduation or a promotion. Keep in routine and you’ll make time fly. Fast or slow, the choice is yours to make.