What exactly is TIME? (the mental aspect)

Have you ever wondered what time is?

It is weird when you REALLY think about it. All it does is just pass by. As you're reading this, time is passing. It's moving forward. Unstoppable. Obviously, there are a lot of meanings that the word itself carries but, we focus on the mental aspect here. The one we can feel or maybe not. Most of us have definitely looked back and thought, "Wow, those years went by quickly!". If not, let's think about it. Remember the first time you started writing with a pen in secondary school? We would be so excited that FINALLY, we'll write with a pen. Remember the first time you traveled somewhere alone? Without your parents? When you used to dream about being 18, an adult? When you would not be able to wait to get your hands on your new phones? Exactly.

It's a joke. Time is a joke. It has no definition. Don't try to look for one either because you'll find a million. Believe me, been there, done that. Every human being has a different perception of time. It's universal. For me, time might be running slower than it is for you while I am writing this. Maybe it's even faster. No one knows.

Now if that's a wonder of the human mind or time itself I don't know. But it's beautiful. You can only imagine the future, think about the past, and live in the present. Most of us choose to live in the past, but that's a thing for later discussion. As a child, I would always wonder if the people that have gone to bed before us already started the next day while we're still awake. Because, whenever we sleep, we don't experience the complete passage of time. It's instant. We close our eyes and wake up after some time. We don't experience the entire 6, 7 or 8 hours. But that's if we're sleeping. If I'm awake and you're sleeping, time is moving faster for you than it is for me. So is it that you've already woken up the next day and I've slept?. While it sounds stupid nowadays, it was a very intriguing thought back then.

The passage of time is different for each one of us. If I'm having a particularly difficult time, I'll wonder why the days last so long. But if you're having a great time, it won't last. Four days will feel like 4 hours.

Every little thought like this used to sound extremely stupid until I got to know that time actually slows down. Yes, time slows down and we've measured it. I'll try to explain it in the most non-scientific way possible. Time, in this universe, is physical. Time is understood to be the 4th dimension in space. And around massive planets and stars with intense gravitational fields, time slows down. So we can safely say that we would age less in space than on Earth. Astronauts who've spent a certain amount of time on the International Space Station are younger than they should be. Something like six micro-seconds younger.

The difference is less, I know, but it's amazing. Time is not absolute. Time is relative. So, on to a conclusion (which does not exist), time is relative. It's different for every individual person. And you can never know if it actually is different. Your clock might be slower than my clock. Might be faster, but no one will know. It's very stupidly intriguing because it's difficult to understand an exact definition. Mostly because an exact definition of time does not exist. There might be accepted definitions, but they're not universal. TIME IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE. ( irony intended ).

Time serves no purpose other than to just pass. It will go by, sometimes quicker, sometimes slower. And this is also because we can compare. We, humans, have a memory, right? We can remember that the lockdown seemed never-ending but 2022 was fast like crazy. But what if we didn't have a memory? Would time still pass by quicker in 2022 than in the 2020 lockdown? Again, the answer is: we don't know. We have no proof. We get stuck on the question itself. Our ability to distinguish various intervals of time roots in our ability to distinguish itself. Time is full of "what ifs". It's something we know, something we are used to, something so transparent, yet so opaque. Mysterious. This contrast is what makes time so interesting.

That's time, as we (don't) know it.