We live in an instagram generation. A generation in which things are being shared at the same instant it is happening. We are so well connected. We have cameras sitting in pocket to capture every moment. We are surrounded by millions of possibilities like never before. Yet we feel miserable at times. Like something is missing. Wondered why? Let’s try to explore together.
How we experience time in different phases of our life
Have you ever noticed that how time moves faster as we grow old; since the time we are born, we are experiencing life differently in accordance with different stages we go through. Time passes at a different pace every year. A summer vacation could stretch on for an eternity, but then as we grow old something changes and suddenly it seems running faster the next time. With each birthday we circle back, and cross the same point around the sun. But soon we realize that the circle is getting tightened. As if our birthday arrives one day earlier every year; because each year is little less worth than the last. Even when we aren’t doing anything, life seems running. With increasing pace of life, it seems the quality of experienced life is reduced. And we reach a point where everything looks miserable. We have eyes which see not, ears that hear not, and heart that neither feels nor understand. And we start losing moments in life.
As children we used to experience life so differently. Everything was so bright and colorful but then with time it started fading. It became dull and colorless. But what is the reason behind? Why do we feel more miserable as time passes? Why almost everyone had a great childhood, but as they grow old things start changing? To understand that let us try to see what we lose as we grow old and thus end up in a dull and colorless life – So have you ever noticed a child (1-2 years old) trying to look to this alienated world with wide open eyes? To him everything is new and unique. Every experience to him is intense and powerful. But eventually this novelty will turn into routine as he will start building up memory, words and expectations. The world will no longer be new. Everything will seem to be the same old routine. Hauling his body on the same stretch of the road every day, no closer than he was the day before; breathing in and out while things around will be at same mess for him to clean every day. We as children are wondering, seeking and learning something new every day. That circle of sun which we revolve around seems close to infinite. But as we grow old and bound ourselves into routines that circle gets shorten every year. And what it indicates is that we lose novelty with time in our experienced life.
It is the new which awakens the mind
One can argue that even after doing novel things, my life is miserable. But to make it clear that novelty is not in uploading a new selfie every moment; because the self is lost in the #selfie. No, I am not against taking selfies or the whole idea of using social media to share. But the point is that, although we maintain a great digital life; we aren’t experiencing things well enough. The whole purpose for us in doing all the novel things is to take that perfect selfie which can get more likes/views. But are these experiences as powerful and intense as our younger self. The answer I guess is no, because we have forgotten to respect the new. Although we have a social media profile filled with new pictures. But the intent behind has again became a routine of social reward; getting accepted by people and thus forgetting to experience the new.
What it is now V/S What it should be
So to conclude I can say that, if we want to bring that eternal summer vacation back or to stretch that circle close to infinity and experience as fresh as we felt in our younger age; then we need to bring back novelty. We need to bring back the self, the one who will experience before sharing it out in the world; because it is not the novelty which is lost but the self. Happiness lives in the new and it is true only when we are experiencing it.
Illustration Credits: Saurabh Mehta (India Fellow, 2010 Cohort)
Source Credits: Shots of awe, Dictionary of obscure sorrow
Tall order there. Wonderment at novelty is the realm of magic tricks and amusement park rides i.e. an addition to the dopamine rush of excitement. Practically speaking, it ain’t gonna happen. Starting something is fine, but you’ll also need to complete it. Maturity – as much as I dislike that concept – comes from drawing one’s strength from inside and keeping oneself motivated without the need for frequent ‘novel’ pick-me-ups, be they shared on social media or not. Excitement is, well, exciting. But if you can’t keep yourself going without it – as you’ll often need to in life – then there’s a word for that kind of behavior – fickle.
Indeed the point that you are making is true in a way. But it is important to understand that why one needs motivation to complete something and not as much as in starting it. There can be a thrill and excitement when you start something, a kind of novelty that you see in it. And then it slowly dies. So a better question one needs to ask is why that is happening? One fickle because he is not questioning enough to understand what he really wants. Isn’t it?
Although as Nikita said in her comment below that this article was more about experiencing life and finding the novelty in the moment rather then just trying to capture it for later. We need to find beauty in our daily life and cherish it. 🙂
Tall order there. Wonderment at novelty is the realm of magic tricks and amusement park rides i.e. an addition to the dopamine rush of excitement. Practically speaking, it ain’t gonna happen. Starting something is fine, but you’ll also need to complete it. Maturity – as much as I dislike that concept – comes from drawing one’s strength from inside and keeping oneself motivated without the need for frequent ‘novel’ pick-me-ups, be they shared on social media or not. Excitement is, well, exciting. But if you can’t keep yourself going without it – as you’ll often need to in life – then there’s a word for that kind of behavior – fickle.
I love the caricatures/ pictures on this post. Did you draw them, Abhimanyu? Well written, btw 🙂
No Suarabh made all these amazing illustrations
I love the caricatures/ pictures on this post. Did you draw them, Abhimanyu? Well written, btw 🙂
It is a tall task … no doubt. But then again, the risk reward ratio is high and that is a good thing. It might be a good idea to clearly break it down into more doable sub-parts and then focus accordingly.
Read the comment again, and ponder over how operations-minded it was.
At least it was some kind of minded … anything wrong in it?
It is a tall task … no doubt. But then again, the risk reward ratio is high and that is a good thing. It might be a good idea to clearly break it down into more doable sub-parts and then focus accordingly.
2 things. To Shankar, I think the message is more about letting things wash over you even in your day to day life, rather than trying to freeze it in a moment or a photo. Because truly you can click a picture and remember what the place or the moment did to you, but your experience of the moment is diluted. Wonderment is also being appreciative. Finding the smaller beauties in your routine and cherishing them.
To Abhimanyu- I really like the post. It is crisp and makes a straightforward point. More importantly, I am excited by the clarity of its communication. Congrats!