From the time I was young I have always heard people say, “Time goes by so fast.” I’ve heard people talk about how much time passes by in a blink of an eye, or how they feel like they fell asleep and woke up and time slipped away from them so quickly. They talk about how their kids have grown so fast, and how it feels like just yesterday they were just learning to walk.

I can remember when the only thing I was worried about was a toy from the store, or if I could have a sleepover on Friday night because it wasn’t a school night; when I would beg for a snack before dinner, and for ice cream after. I would ride my bike up and down the streets of my little town for fun, and I never thought about anything too much. I was just a kid enjoying life as it came to me.

How did I grow up so fast? What happened to the meaning of the word fun, and what happened to the meaning of the word life? The word fun went from playgrounds and field trips to clubs and drinking games. The word life went from a spelling word to a concept that I am still trying to figure out.

Hot chocolate with marshmallows turns into three cups of coffee just to stay awake. Candy turns into ibuprofen to fight the headaches that come with long days, and longer nights. Class changes from something you’re excited to go to to see your best friends to something you dread because you just can’t get yourself to understand the information. Crying over a scuffed knee turns into crying over everything in the universe that your brain decides to think of at night.

I find myself up late at night writing articles and trying to finish my work; reaching for my college degree. I worry about not being able to do everything that I want with my life; I worry that I won’t be able to travel the world and see everything before my time is up.

I miss the nights I would be up late, laughing with my little sister in our room until our parents would tell us we were being too loud. I miss the times where laughter, happiness, and being carefree were the elements that made up the word “life.”

The worst part about time going by so quickly is that it takes so long to realize that it’s happening. It creeps up on you out of nowhere, and when you’re finally old enough everything starts to unravel. The money, the worries, the good things in life you don’t want to let go of, and the bad things in life that don’t want to let go of you.

I just want to know where all my time goes. Is there somewhere I can go to slow it down? There’s not. The only possible thing to do is to cherish all the time given to us, so that even when it goes by so fast we have made the best out of each and every second.

From the time I was young, I always heard people say, “Time goes by so fast.” Now I am growing older, and I still hear that same sentence, because now I am the one saying it.