No, not that song by Ke$ha.

Can we talk about where the time has gone for a moment?

It’s the end of another semester.

Whenever I was a kid, I was fascinated with how inconsistent a second would feel. A moment at school would feel different than a moment at a friend’s house, and it would feel different than a moment on vacation.

It’s especially weird how as each second passes, a second is now a smaller percentage of your life.  For example, your first second of existence is 100% of your life (although, to be fair you have no concept of time), where the second after you turn 50 years old is only 1/1,577,836,801 of your life and is therefore much less significant by a pure number perspective.

Although, empirically, time feels to accelerate for this reason, it is also because of the way our brain processes moments of time based on familiarity. It’s also based on one’s level of focus and the variety of our experiences. In a world that is constantly fighting and dividing our attention, we begin to lose focus and therefore a less perceived time. Additionally, as soon as we set ourselves into chronic routines, time again begins to run away from us.

Here’s a breakdown of it by Neuroscientist David Eagleman:

When our brains receive new information, it doesn’t necessarily come in the proper order. This information needs to be reorganized and presented to us in a form we understand. When familiar information is processed, this doesn’t take much time at all. New information, however, is a bit slower and makes time feel elongated.

So, all of that being said, it was a great semester. At times it seemed to fly by and other times it seemed to last forever. There are pros and cons of each, I guess. What I do know is that I want to continue to focus down on my passions next semester of startups(Right now, see: Innoblue), energy, and traveling. Innoblue brought 1000 Pitches to Penn State for the very first time, I took new and challenging classes, I jumped out of my comfort zone by moving into the co.space, and I went to Ann Arbor, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and New Jersey this fall.

So, what about next semester?

Perhaps a little trip out to SXSW? Maybe something a little crazier with Innoblue? I know I’ll have to buckle-down and focus in-on my Organic Chemistry class.

We’ll see what time permits.