A child’s countdown measures anticipation with more accuracy than any adult calendar.

A calendar records duration, while a countdown records how much a day is being carried. When a child says eleven sleeps, they are not reporting time, they are reporting the size of the thing at the end of it. Adults tend to lose that instrument by keeping everything the same distance away and declining to look forward to any of it. Eagerness is a real measurement, and it is the one that tells you what matters.

Pick one thing on your calendar you are genuinely glad about and count towards it for a week. Anticipation grows with attention, and the waiting becomes part of what you were waiting for.