The question is common: how in childhood 6 weeks summer holidays are feeling like they last eternity, while for an adult the same feel like it's gone in no time? There are a few contemporary non fiction books on the subject, which are not really worth mentioning. Then there is a novel by Matt Haig with the title, which I enjoyed reading. I found it entertaining, looking at life and lives from the perspective of somebody who suffers he anomaly of living for centuries. Even the concept is not new, and reaches from Greek Mythology through the Ghost of Centerville, the Flying Dutchman into modernity, I found this book telling another nice story. And it may even help a bit to answer we the question in poses in he title.
When I started thinking about the question casually, a few years ago, I was wondering why the ratio of some change divided by time "consumed", also referred to as "speed", became an equivalent for performance. Even some common measures of intelligence are using the ability of solving mental tasks in a given short time frame. Obviously, his is good for some purposes and completely useless for others. But then you find, that people with high IQ sometimes also tend to have high creative abilities. Well, obviously it is an advantage, when you can do both: thinking fast and slow. And yes, for those who did no do it yet, let me say that Daniel Kahneman's book, should go on the reading list. I assume, a high common IQ is good to to process stuff, which otherwise clogs up valuable brainpower for higher tasks.
Speed is exciting, but lacks dignity and elegance, when things become hectic. Try to stand in the Hong Kong subway during rush hour, watching the commuters and not to think of ants or lemmings. Hectic is like switching from laminar to turbulent friction. A landing plane produces turbulence on purpose to reduce kinetic energy and slow down. Beyond hectic comes only panic. And beyond panic comes disaster.
Back to the point how to stop time, or at least slow it down. I tried for a while, not to carry a watch and not to have a calendar. In a world where you have to use time as a dimension of coordination with others, that's very unpractical and sooner or later something goes seriously wrong. So, that did not work. Then the solution came to me during this summer, which lasted "forever" (not just as an effect of global warming). It was a combination of absolute focus on enjoyable tasks and topics, together with taking up more (not less) responsibilities and doing is all very seriously. When I spent six weeks in Hong Kong, I was also reminded how important the environment is. Hong Kong is a hectic and noisy place with frightened and nervous people. After about a month I could not help, this started to have an effect on me, making me inefficient and tired. I have not looked into the slow city and slow food movement. But I am convinced that there are more conducive environments than others. Still, slowness itself can be also quite disturbing and does not really help slowing down the passing of time. There are things which have to be fast. It's all about staying in laminar flow, I guess.
Back in Malta, I sorted my notebooks and diaries. They cover notes from when I was twelve years old. I decided not to switch electronic on this subject (except for mere coordination). It is very nice to flip the pages.