The Anticipatory Theory

Roast: Medium

A colleague of mine and I recently returned from a business trip in Florida. Our local sales representative played host during our visit and we had the pleasure of meeting his wonderful family. While having dinner together one evening, I seized the opportunity to proliferate on my theories of time and LRPs (if you are unfamiliar with this term, please refer back to my previous posts). I was intrigued and pleased to hear some of the interesting ideas that both our sales representative and his wife had on the subject. I thought I'd share a bit from that discussion.

If you've been a faithful reader of my blog, you know that I have a few theories on why the passage of time seems to accelerate as we grow older. However, after my discussion with my friends in Florida, I must admit that there are probably quite a few other theories that deserve investigation. One of the main ideas we discussed during dinner last week revolved around child-like anticipation. Thus, I have coined this as the Anticipatory Theory of Time.

The basic logic of this theory is that time will seem to pass slower when we are anticipating something of significance to take place. Do you remember as a child when your parents announced that the family would be taking vacation to Walt Disney World during Easter break? The months leading up to that planned vacation always seemed to take forever. Why is that? Even as an adult, I have experienced this same phenomenon as we plan our annual family vacations to both Door County and the Wisconsin Dells. It seems as if the anticipation of the upcoming event acts as a catalyst for slowing down time, at least in our minds. Granted, I have only been introduced to this notion recently, so I have not taken the time to ponder the full effects of anticipation - but I am intrigued by this new theory.

Perhaps when considering your next LRP (Life Reference Point) event, you should consider planning it well in advance. By combining both the ideas of LRPs and the Anticipatory Theory, you may find that slowing the passage of time is seemingly possible - at least on a relative basis.