TIME FLIES—
But How Did We Get This Old So Fast?
Do you know how to estimate how long you might expect to live? The good news is that your life expectancy increases with each passing year.
How Time Flies
Husband Harry often quipped, “Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like bananas,”
but it took me years to learn this wasn’t his original humor. Here’s where it originated.
In a 1990 article in McCall’s, Bruce Schechter, author of My Brain is Open, explained that time flies in proportion to how old we are, and the first twenty years are the longest half of our life. “They appear so while they are passing; they seem to have been so when we look back on them; and they take up more room in our memory than all the years that follow. This phenomenon has to do with simple mathematics: a year to a five‑year‑old is 20 percent of her lifetime, whereas to someone who’s 50, it’s a mere two percent. Thus a year seems much longer to a youngster than to an adult.”
You can slow the clock to some degree by reviewing the past, Schechter maintains. “Keeping a journal is an excellent way to sort out the blur of years so they no longer meld in a meaningless jumble, but rather form a satisfying pattern of events and achievements.”
Some years after I clipped that article, I stumbled across the table below, developed by Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, who related the average life span to one’s age and the hours of a day:
If you’re 15, the time is 10:25 a.m.
If you’re 20, “ “ 11:34 a.m.
If you’re 25, “ “ 12:42 p.m.
If you’re 30, “ “ 1:51 p.m.
If you’re 35, “ “ 3:00 p.m.
If you’re 40, “ “ 4:08 p.m.
If you’re 45, “ “ 5:15 p.m.
If you’re 50, “ “ 6:25 p.m.
If you’re 55, “ “ 7:34 p.m.
If you’re 60, “ “ 8:42 p.m.
If you’re 65, “ “ 9:51 p.m.
If you’re 70 “ “ 11:00 p.m.
Weatherhead was a Methodist minister in London
and author of many books (1892-1976).
I put this info in my journal and shared it with my subscribers when I was 64, writing: “According to this chart, I graduated from high school about 11 a.m., held a job for a couple of hours, got married, freelanced for an hour, started my first business around 2 p.m. and my second a little past 4 p.m. Since it is now nearly 10 p.m. for me, with only two hours to go, I’m seriously thinking about how I want to spend the rest of my life.”
When I read this again at 80, it was fascinating to see that I was then completely out of time by this chart and the Bible too, given that Psalm 90:10 (NIV) states: “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Which begs the question of what happens if we live past eighty?
Living Unafraid as We Age
I got a good answer in Adam Hamilton’s book, UNAFRAID: Living with Courage and Hope in Uncertain Times. In the section on “Aging, Illness, Dying, and Fear of the Lord,” Hamilton presented a summary of the 2019 SSA’s Actuarial Life Table, a link I've now updated for 2022. It shows the life expectancy for people between the ages of one to 119, with the number of years those of any age can expect to live.
I used the 2019 chart when I wrote the first version of this article, but now it appears the 2022 chart is being used for 2025. (See the drop-down box to select different years. The only thing that changes is the age figure in the top right column.) What's important to remember is that the longer you live, the longer you can expect to live, because our life expectancy increases with each passing year.
I last updated this article shortly after I turned 80, which put me in the Bible’s category of “living longer if my strength endures.” I wrote then (using the 2019 table): According to the SSA’s Life Table, once I’ve made it to 80, I can reasonably expect to live another eight years (assuming, of course, that my health remains good and I don’t develop a life-threatening illness). If I make it to 88, I might live to be 92, after which time the game continues until the age of 119, where the table stops. (For more info about your life span, search for “Life Expectancy in the USA.”)
Well, now I'm past 88, and the latest table tells me I might live another 4.5 years, or to age 92+. If I make it to 92, the table shows the next goal would be 96. That was my grandmother's age, and if I hit that landmark age, I might not have as much zeal for life as I have now. It will depend on several things, and in the end, it's all up to God. My goal is to stay ready to be called at any time. (Would it surprise you to learn that 85 percent of those who make it to a hundred are women?)
In searching for how many in the US are now over 100 years of age, I found that in 2016, there were 82,000 centenarians, a figure then expected to increase to 589,000 in the year 2060. In checking the latest statistics in April 2023 (based on the latest data in 2021), the number had increased to 89,729. Another source said that the number of centenarians worldwide has more than doubled in the past 25 years.
According to a 2022 estimate by the United Nations, there are already 593,000 centenarians worldwide. The UN also projects that the number of centenarians will significantly increase to 3.7 million by 2050.
All this suggests that I might have several productive years left to keep doing what I love most and still do best, even after decades of self-employment. As I’ve said before, I will never willingly retire because I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I stopped writing for publication. I launched a new website in 2021 so I could express my beliefs and ideas and help those who might benefit from the many hard life lessons I’ve learned so far. But I had three big questions when I last updated this article:
(1) Will I have enough money to get me through to the end of my life? (I now believe I have more than enough to live comfortably.)
(2) Will my faith enable me to stay happy, content, and live with peace and joy in my heart as the world around me continues to crumble into cultural, political, and social chaos? (I like to think I could do that, but only time will tell.)
(3) How much longer do I really want to live in a quickly changing world I can no longer relate to and don't know how to live in? (I'll let you know in another three or four years.)
For an eye-opening understanding of today’s disturbing intersection between culture, politics, and society and why things are getting worse so quickly today, I urge you to read the article, “Culture of Chaos.”
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a Ride!’” – Hunter S. Thompson, from Hell’s Angels
Related Article: What Time Is It on Your Cell Phone? A little levity for time-challenged home-business owners.
Reader Feedback
• “I’d really love to “skid to the grave … thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a Ride!’ Alas, lack of mobility is not allowing me to do that. Travelling to doctors by bus or cab, an occasional meetup with close friends, and light shopping in the neighborhood is the farthest I can go in real life (aided by my rollator and lots of stops to rest). But I travel across the world and have many experiences by reading.
“As for you, I imagine that even bad changes in your life will increase, not reduce, your reliance on religious faith (item #2 of your things to think about). And that negates item #3 on your list. So be of good cheer, you’re on the right path. And remember that you’re not alone: All us oldies have the same problems and are doing our best to cope. In the final analysis, however, when we do what we can, there’s nothing more for us to do than accept whatever happens (and here I would think your faith is your bulwark).” – Bev M.
• “We are programmed to collapse the past and expand the future. Events of the past seem to have come and gone in the blink of an eye, but when we look forward to a future event, the time for it to arrive seems exceedingly long. That's true for a five-year-old and an eighty-year-old. I'm comforted that those who profess to lead us are all in my age range. If they can wield so much power and activity, I can too!
“Social media have, of course, created a greater chaos than in the past. But that's not all. The First World standard of living is exceedingly high compared to all time past—think health care, food, transportation, drugs, tattoos, smart phones, televisions, planes, welfare programs. Humans have not adjusted. In times past, all our energy had to be applied to subsistence—finding food, shelter, safety, and our tribe to help us. No longer. Yet our very essence needs, must have, constant life stress to thrive. So, when the real world does not surround us with real challenges, real chaos, we are driven to create it, make it up.” – George B.
Previously published as a Brabec Bulletin on February 18, 2022; Updated in July 2025.
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