Spring Break is almost here, to the relief of students and teachers alike. I think we are all very excited to be able to have a week of no school. Everyone I have talked to expressed disbelief that we are already nearing the end of March.

This whole pandemic seems to have messed with our perception of time. Looking back at early lockdowns, the days seemed to fly by. I can barely remember what I did back then, and many people seem to feel the same.

With such a unanimous answer about the passage of time lately, I wondered if there was an explanation to why the time has passed so unusually fast. Turns out, there is.

According to Claudia Hammond, author of Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception, “If you’re doing the same thing every day-the new normal for many in quarantine-there’s no need to remember each day specifically. Even if time passes slowly in the moment, it’s likely that nothing will stand out upon looking back, causing you to perceive time has passed by quickly in the long run.”

Now that things are headed in a almost normal direction, hopefully the passage of time will start to feel a little more typical.