Comments on: 37 Days

By: Andrew Brunelle

Andrew Brunelle — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:16:20 +0000

What a beautiful piece of writing and how inspiring. You’ve really won me over with this blog over the past 4 years I’ve been reading it. You have such grace and are so articulate. I hope that someday I can write with the depth and knowledge that you do.

By: EJ

EJ — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:37:24 +0000

This is a difficult question. I would like to answer as proudly and bravely as Dave. But its all hypothetical until we’re really there ourselves. I think I would shed a lot of tears, do a lot of hand holding (or hand clutching), spend sleepless nights agonizing. Perhaps finding peace (or exhaustion) in the end. Sort of like those tragic love lost or death of beloved poems and songs – very pretty as abstract experiences. But when you’re there yourself with tears,snot, and red rimmed eyes tragedy isn’t as nice/interesting. I am not at all this kind anxiety ridden, sentimental person in my everyday life. Although I think a bit about death almost everyday, it is still a very scary concept.

By: Siona

Siona — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:16:50 +0000

Thank you, Dave, for creating the space to see who would fill it in. I feel sweetly honored. :)

By: Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:34:48 +0000

For me, depends upon what you mean by “party”. If that’s a euphemism, as it is in much of North America (and perhaps elsewhere) for drinking to the point of being stupid and getting “out of yourself”, I agree with you. But if it is to go and be with others from time to time during those days to talk, listen, enjoy some good tastes, share some music or games, engage in some interesting conversations and listen and watch, then I think I’d party some as well as spend some important amounts of time in nature and in reflection. I would certainly focus on paying attention every moment.

By: Dave Pollard

Dave Pollard — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:22:49 +0000

Thanks everyone. The first version of this post included Siona’s question. Then I decided to remove it, to see who would ask it. My answer to the question is that you use a different strategy for running a marathon than running a sprint, and that the best marathon runners keep just enough back to be able to sprint the last short distance to the finish line. But if the length of the race is kept a secret by the organizers until you see the finish line, or the chequered flag, your strategy will be never to sprint until you see it.Or until you realize that just because everybody-else treats life as a race, doesn’t mean it is.

By: Siona

Siona — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:38:53 +0000

I love this post too. What would it take for you to do this, now, as if your 37 days were about to begin? What makes you love this version of life more?

By: William Lucas

William Lucas — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:37:04 +0000

That final comment about “not counting the days” is spot on!

By: Beth Patterson

Beth Patterson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:22:58 +0000

Dear Dave–I love this post. It speaks so clearly to our do/be dichotomy. As much as some of us have and continue to work on it, the dichotomy still shows up when we really look at the limitations of lifespan.Karen Crone and I are collaborating on a whole piece for Patti’s invitation as well. Bringing up lots of juicy stuff!I posted an article on the Virtuatl Tea House about some wolf wisdom the other day that you might find interesting, after reading this post! It’s called ‘We live because we live’.Thanks for being, today, Dave–Beth

By: mattbg

mattbg — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:56:44 +0000

I agree with what you said about working, travelling, and partying. When you have any time available to you to do something other than your usual routine, I think it’s far more useful to use the time to remove some of the friction from your normal routine. You could do this by forming new habits, which the time off gives you the patience to start. Or, you could just reflect on how you do things and why you do what you do to look for ways that you could do them better. Taking two weeks to improve the cadence of the other fifty weeks is far more useful to me than a “get out of town” vacation where, after a couple of weeks, you come back to something that you didn’t like enough to stay with before you left. On top of that, it’s expensive, disruptive and may just add other stresses when you realize that it’s all over, the buzz wore off two days after your return, and you now have bills to pay.There’s an argument to be made that travel broadens your mind. It can, but I don’t think many people use it in a way that would broaden their mind in any meaningful way. More often, I think a lot of people have a honeymoon period with a new location that is in no way representative of life in that place and it just makes them feel worse about the place they live for the majority of their days. From that perspective, you’re more likely to broaden your mind by reading a non-fiction book by an author from that place (unless you’re on a “no words” vacation — I like that idea, too, by the way).