Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
You don’t need to be a quantum physicist to know that the passage of time is inevitable. As a result, those fine lines on your cheeks are getting more prominent and your doggo is taking way longer to catch the jumpy ball. We change, but so does our environment, and there’s not much we can do about it.
Bored Panda has compiled a list full of worn-down things, objects, and places that have been altered beyond return by time. From weary teddy bears and aging shift knobs to peeling signs and rusty chains, these are some of the most amusing examples people have stumbled upon.
Because even if we can’t stop the clocks, we can at least pause to sit back and see the beauty in the passage of time. After you're done with this list, be sure to check our part 1 and part 2 of worn-out things that all have their tales to tell.
This post may include affiliate links.
Time is one hell of a tricky business. Some days, it passes like a rocket; other times, it feels like someone put the world on hold. In order to find out more about our ever-changing perception of time and the games it plays with our mind, Bored Panda reached out to Nancy Darling, a professor and chair at the Department of Psychology at Oberlin College and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Adolescence.
Nancy explained that people tend to judge the passage of time as a function of how many things happen. “I find it interesting that when my days are packed, I feel time passes both very fast and very slow.”
She gave an example: “During a busy week, events a week ago seem in the far, distant past because so many things have intervened since.” Simultaneously, we feel like time is flying by because so many things are happening every hour. Not only is our perception of time purely subjective, it’s also somehow both slow and fast at the same time.
#4
The Way That The Statue Has Been Worn By People Stroking The Dog On The Charles Bridge
The professor also said that as we get older, the way we perceive time tends to change. It has to do with the usual things, “like cooking a meal or grocery shopping, that start taking longer for you to do.”
Most importantly, “the passage of time just marks age and accomplishment,” according to Nancy. “I just got an email this morning reminding me I’d promised to do something in July. That seems both forever ago (I’ve done a thousand things since) and very close (every day, I keep saying I’ll do it ’tomorrow.’)”
Interestingly, we can do that with life as well. Just think of your kids being tiny and dependent, urges the professor. “How can my son be living in Manhattan and getting ready to teach in the public schools? Time flies,” she said. At the same time, Nancy said that she feels like “there are many things I’d always planned to do, but haven’t gotten to (yet).” And she added: “I am too old now?”
#7
Stone On This Italian Castle Being Completely Worn Down By 700 Years Of Rainfall Dripping Off The Roof Onto The Exact Same Spot
#8
I Was In Ireland Two Years Ago And Found This Piece Of A Brick Wall That Had Been Shaped By The Surf
#9
After A Hard Rain, A Pothole Opened Up In Front Of My House Revealing The Original Brick And A Train Track
At this point, it’s very important to realize that revising and looking back at our dreams and plans are crucial in keeping time on our side. “If you regularly review what your priorities are and focus on those, you feel like a lot has gotten done and you don’t regret the fact that you’ve wasted your days,” suggests the professor.
It’s all because we need to create a sense of accomplishment, whether big or small, that creates invisible gaps in time. “Days when I accomplish a lot are full and satisfying, but also feel long. A productive week feels like it’s lasted forever. It also feels good,” Nancy concluded. And if time starts feeling longer, it kinda goes slower. Isn’t this exactly the way to stop the clock?
Read more about Nancy Darling’s advice on keeping regular schedules and reviewing your goals in order to make it easier to mark the passage of time in her articles for Psychology Today here and here.
#11
My Dog Runs Around My Pool In The Exact Same Track So Much That There’s A Ring Of Dirt In The Grass
#16
Rust Formed On This Old Spool Of Wire In One Of The Coolest Ways I've Ever Seen
#20
Layers Of Paint. It's A Piece Of The Wall In A Detroit Car Factory. People Have Actually Been Tumbling These And Calling Them Fordite Or Detroit Agate
#22
Took My Dad To See If His First Car Was Still Where He Left It When Its Engine Seized -- 40 Years Ago. It Was
#23
Crosscut Of An Old Waterpipe Showing The Layers Of Limescale Built Up Over Time
#24
My Great-Grandfather's Driving Licence No. 052 Issued In Halifax, Yorkshire. It Is Printed On Cloth
#25
Windmill (1680) With Worn Down Stairs And Bottom Step (Where Everyone Would Pivot)
#26
My Mother's Clipboard From Doing The Newspapers Crossword Puzzles For 30 Years
#28
This Door Has Worn Away From 50 Or So Years Of Being Hit By A Bell When Opened
#29
The Paint Peeling On This Building Kind Of Looks Like The Head Of A Lion
#34
The Way This Tree Is Stripping The Paint Off This Sign Only To Cover Itself In Paint
#42
I Ran The Same Hill Sprint Enough Times Over Quarantine To Create My Own Path
#45
My In-Laws Teaspoon, It's Seen The Bottom Of So Many Cups It's Worn Flat
Add New Image
What do you think ?
chi-wei shen 4 years ago
I could post pictures of me to show how people can get worn down over time. Trust me, it doesn't look good.
Meyer Weinstock 4 years ago (edited)
Oh, you raised children, too, eh? (2 adult children, no grandchildren)
Load More Replies...
Yugan Talovich 4 years ago
Back in the early 70s, Taiwan was still dirt poor. I saw a man who shoveled coal into trucks. His shovel was worn down so much you wouldn't recognize it as such if you saw it leaning against a wall.
chi-wei shen 4 years ago
I could post pictures of me to show how people can get worn down over time. Trust me, it doesn't look good.
Meyer Weinstock 4 years ago (edited)
Oh, you raised children, too, eh? (2 adult children, no grandchildren)
Load More Replies... Yugan Talovich 4 years ago
Back in the early 70s, Taiwan was still dirt poor. I saw a man who shoveled coal into trucks. His shovel was worn down so much you wouldn't recognize it as such if you saw it leaning against a wall.
Related on Bored Panda
