Life Is SHORT

The concept that life is short is not a new one by any means, but there seems to be a difference between rationally realizing this and actually feeling this in your bones and acting like it. It's hard to realize that the troubles in your own mind, no matter how great or small, will not actually last all that long, because you wil not last all that long. Think about golden retrievers. They rarely live past 15 years, but they sure seem to enjoy the time they're allotted. They don't even realize, rationally, that they're going to die, ever! Yet they still live as if trying to capture every ounce of dog fun before they go.

I've come up with a few ideas to help me sieze the day:

1) Everyone is in the same death boat as I am. No wonder the world is wierd, fucked-up place. Even the worst jerk you've ever met is going to die, and is aware of this. It's impossible to say how greatly this affects people's personalities, deep down. Acting like a jerk isn't the best way to live, and shows a narrowness of soul, but maybe its a way of coping with a world that will slip away from us no matter what we do.

2) TV can suck your life away. I try not to watch more than an hour, maybe an hour and a half a day. I do not have cable, that seductive mistress with her multi-channel fingers massaging your brain into a state of stupor.

3) Interrupt boring people as much as possible. The phrase, "What's your point?" is helpful.

4) Eat well. If you want dessert, fucking have dessert. Diet soda? What?

5) Tell people you care about them. Hang out with them. Practice loving kindness, generosity, even if you don't mean it.

6) Get a car with a sunroof. Awesome.

7) Create something every day. Crappy drawings, poems, essays about Star Wars, blog posts. Whatever. Make something.

8) Be direct with people. why beat around the bush? If someone angers you, feel free to tell them you're going to burn their house down. What if they die tommorow not knowing how you felt?

9) Travel as much as you can, but try not to be a 'tourist' about it.

10) Read books. They're not going to read themselves.

Ah, I feel like I'm living more already! It's not even 9 Am yet and I'm awake!





16 comments:

David Oppegaard said...

I just realized I have 328 profile views in the last four months. Say 28 of those are me. Who are these 300 others? That would make a pretty formidible army back in the day. Why haven't 300 different people left me comments? Are 280 of them really shy? That's a lot of shy people out there.

L said...

You are a golden retriever, my friend.

I am a weiner dog. A very nervous weiner dog.

Geoff Herbach said...

I am a large-living chicken, the king of all I see.

Something dirty said...

These are good rules. Wait, you just TELL them you are going to burn down their house? Should I actually...Ok, I'll be right back.

Lame, I know. I am a yappy little dog or a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Oh, I had to look at your profile again because everybody else was doing it.

David Oppegaard said...

Geez, I didn't know you people had such a bad self-image problem. I like Geoff's large-living chicken image, though....

David Oppegaard said...

I think of you all as show poodles. Fluffy, noble, show poodles.

Something dirty said...

Life seems very long today. Not necessarily in a bad way. But long.

David Oppegaard said...

like the MLB baseball season!

Anonymous said...

Damn, my car has no sunroof. Oh, I've wasted my life!

David Oppegaard said...

na. You're doing fine.

David Oppegaard said...

it's 1:26 Am right now. Why am I awake?

Because I am!

L said...

Mr. Blogagaard, I was awake at 3:30 a.m. The rest of the house was silently asleep. I was hot and my skin was crawling. So I watched music videos. I haven't watched music videos in a long time. They are not so good.

Julie DuRose said...

I think the other 300 are working on #5 and/or #8.

Would you consider amending #6 to "Get a car with a sunroof or ride a motorcycle?" It's sort of the same thing. Only waaaay better.

David Oppegaard said...

motor cycles will lead yout o nothign but death. Didn't you see "Easy Rider"? ER nurses refer to them as donorcycles.

Anonymous said...

I love this "choose an identity" thing. I will be... a foreign missionary, here to recruit American's to my invented religion. I will be... a boy raised by lemurs who finds himself heir to a toothpaste manufacturing fortune.

David Oppegaard said...

Welcome to the land of Blogagaard, Kelly! I would say you are a thoughtful hamster.

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