Experiencing Time Warp

Time is warping. I keep reflecting and feel like I’ve lived 2-3 different lifetimes. I’m 22. College literally feels like a different life time, even though it was just last year, and school feels like it was ages ago, like a whole other lifetime.

Our brain's internal clock is predominantly dopaminergic: novel experiences slow time, routine accelerates it. This time warp means perceived age outpaces real age

It’s strange that this is the first time I’ve really felt like time has warped for me. Up until sophomore year of college, everything felt linear, like one continuous lifetime. I could easily remember my school days, the good times with friends, and I was still in touch with most people because we were all young and connected. I miss that sense of time, when it felt like it made sense. But now, it feels like time has lost its usual rhythm. Post-COVID, I think the way we experience time has fundamentally shifted. Time used to have clear markers—holidays, seasons, or even just the start of a new year. But when the pandemic hit, everything blurred together. Days, weeks, and even years felt the same as life was put on hold. Routines broke down, and we lost those transitions that made time feel linear.

Even now, as life has returned to a version of normal, that old sense of time hasn’t fully come back. Routine makes the days fly by in a blur, and even the big life experiences that used to slow down time, like meeting new people or going on adventures, don’t seem to carry the same weight anymore.

This change is affecting me in strange ways. Some memories from just last year feel so fresh, like they happened last month, while other memories, like graduating college, feel like they belong to a completely different life. It’s insane how my perception of time is shifting. Without school as an anchor, everything feels different. And living at home, where I’ve always been, only intensifies the effect, especially now that most of the people I grew up with have moved out. Life feels so different. I was scrolling through Instagram recently and realized how many people I used to talk to daily, or had pictures with, are strangers now. We might not even say hi to each other anymore. It’s crazy to think about how those once-strong connections no longer exist.

What really gets to me is the disconnect between how life used to be and how it is now. It was so easy to keep track of friendships and memories before. There was this sense of continuity. Now, it’s like that thread has been cut, and I’m watching old scenes play out in my mind, but with no real attachment to the present. I stand in the same spaces I always have, but they don’t feel the same because the people and experiences have either changed or disappeared.

There’s this lingering sense of loss. Maybe that’s just part of growing up and realizing that time moves differently for everyone. What feels like a lifetime to me is just a blink for someone else. I’m not sure if it’s nostalgia or a deeper realization that nothing stays the same, no matter how much we want it to. Even the people who were once closest to me are now just memories in the back of my mind, and there’s a sadness in that. Yet, at the same time, it feels like a necessary shift, like shedding an old skin to make room for something new, even though the process is heavy.

Now, I’m stuck in this weird limbo of wanting to hold onto the past but knowing that time keeps pulling me forward, even when I don’t want to let go. I think that’s what makes it so disorienting, the way time just slips away, changing everything and everyone in ways you didn’t expect. The past will keep tugging at us, but if we stay stuck there, the cycle will keep repeating, and we’ll never fully step into who we’re meant to become. The only way to break free is to live fully in this moment before it, too, becomes a memory.