Our Most Valuable Commodity

As we move through adulthood, our perspective changes. Our time gets more and more valuable to us.

Like never before, we hope to make the most of every moment.

This sentiment has a name in psychology. It’s called Socioemotional Selectivity.

We grow increasingly aware that the time we have in this life really is our most valuable commodity.

Focus on the Positive

Again, coming to view our time as limited makes us quite selective about what we’re willing to spend that time focused on or thinking about.

We lose tolerance for the drama or negativity we may have once fixated on back when it felt like we had all the time in the world . . . opting instead for positive, value-enhancing, emotionally satisfying stimuli.

Psychologists call the choice to focus on positive stimuli the Positivity Effect.

For example, studies show that older adults tend to rate unfamiliar faces as more trustworthy than younger adults do, especially when given longer viewing times. In other words, the longer an older adult views a face, the more positive attributes they see, and the nicer the story they tell themselves about the face becomes.

Live for Something Greater

As we come to view our time as limited, what we care about shifts outward from ourselves to others.

Teens and young adults are driven by individualistic ideals like success, expansion, respect, mastery, and certainty about who they are. They prioritize complete emotional freedom and free expression.

In middle and older adulthood, we come to find that making things better for our loved ones, our communities, and the world at large feels more fulfilling and worthwhile than personal achievement.

Living with Meaning Brings Hope

As we see ourselves investing our precious time and effort into pursuits and relationships we find meaningful, we feel hopeful about the future. We view the time we have, limited though it may be, as full of exciting possibilities and potential.

Living for something greater than ourselves brings our attention to options and strategies rather than setbacks and excuses. We become resourceful in our approach to making the most of our time.

For example, research shows that adults who believe they’re living with meaning and purpose engage in proactive strategies when it comes to their health. They’ll put time into seeking preventive healthcare and adopting healthier lifestyle choices because they know it buys them more time to invest in improving others’ lives and contributing to the public good.

Why Dimension?

Socioemotional Selectivity shows us why, as we move through adulthood, we desire to invest our time in only the most meaningful and transformative experiences. These could include being close to family, engaging in only meaningful work, and striving to leave a good legacy.

Yet we’re convinced that attending a festival like Dimension is an experience that aligns like nothing else with the exact shift in perspective described by Socioemotional Selectivity and the Positivity Effect – with the change in perspective we all undergo as we leave young adulthood.

It can't just be any music festival, though. What we need is a meticulously crafted, fully immersive, high-fidelity sensory experience designed to invite us, step-by-step, to let go of our everyday concerns and re-learn to focus on our most important values.

It's never too late to start making the most of our time. And events like Dimension are created, point-by-point, with the goal of raising our consciousness so we can invest our time in the most positive, value-enhancing, and emotionally satisfying experiences imaginable.

How has your perspective changed through the years?

Sources:

Lu, Yi, Chao Chen, Xiaowei Yin, and Xin Zhang. “Viewing Time and Facial Trustworthiness Perception: Giving It a Second Thought May Not Work for Older Adults.” PsyCh Journal 10, no. 5 (October 2021): 805–15.

Waldinger, RobertJ., and MarcS. Schulz. “Facing the Music or Burying Our Heads in the Sand?: Adaptive Emotion Regulation in Midlife and Late Life.” Research in Human Development 7, no. 4 (October 2010): 292–306.

Van Der Goot, Margot J., Nadine Bol, and Julia C. M. Van Weert. “Translating Socioemotional Selectivity Theory Into Persuasive Communication: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing Emotionally- Meaningful Versus Knowledge-Related Appeals.” International Journal of Communication (19328036) 13 (January 2019): 1416–37.