All lives are excellent.
February 25, 2014 10:01 AM Subscribe
Life is not a marathon.
There is no single path. There is no single finishing line. There are as many goals and finishing lines as the number of people on this planet.
Thanks. I needed to see this today!
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 10:07 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 10:07 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
It took me 48 years and having my kidneys fail for me to realize this. Life certainly is not a marathon. The path that you take is totally your path and shouldn't be influenced by others. I'm much more comfortable with myself and my life now that I've realized this and have changed accordingly. New cars? Nope. Fancy gadgets? Nope. A roof over my head, the ability to ride my bike on some great trails? Yep. That's pretty much it for me now. Enjoy life. Don't sweat the small stuff. It's going to be okay.
posted by damnitkage at 10:21 AM on February 25, 2014 [10 favorites]
posted by damnitkage at 10:21 AM on February 25, 2014 [10 favorites]
I prefer to think of my life as the Walt Disney World marathon.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:22 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:22 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
All lives are excellent. (I need to write this on my arm.)
posted by mochapickle at 10:26 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by mochapickle at 10:26 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
In the marathon of life, the finish line is death.
(Maybe not the upbeat moral I was supposed to take from this, but it's my outlook, my path.)
posted by leftcoastbob at 10:40 AM on February 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
(Maybe not the upbeat moral I was supposed to take from this, but it's my outlook, my path.)
posted by leftcoastbob at 10:40 AM on February 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
After the olde programmers suck post I NEEDED THIS.
posted by mrgroweler at 10:52 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by mrgroweler at 10:52 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
In the marathon of life, the finish line is death.
I've said before that the chief difference between life and videogames is that videogames can end in victory.
posted by baf at 10:54 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've said before that the chief difference between life and videogames is that videogames can end in victory.
posted by baf at 10:54 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
Everything is meaningless in the end. But it can be pretty meaningful in the middle.
posted by the jam at 11:16 AM on February 25, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by the jam at 11:16 AM on February 25, 2014 [7 favorites]
My life is more of a Twilight Zone marathon. (Ending, of course, with Time Enough at Last.)
posted by SPrintF at 11:47 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 11:47 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
thin, and think some more, and decide your goal, and THEN go?
that's half-measures, people.
posted by thelonius at 12:58 PM on February 25, 2014
that's half-measures, people.
posted by thelonius at 12:58 PM on February 25, 2014
Meaning is where you find it.
Meaning is where you look for it.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:20 PM on February 25, 2014
Meaning is where you look for it.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:20 PM on February 25, 2014
This is a great message to hear. Our oldest tales retold time and again, reworked to fit and reflect contemporary life.
Read most any folk tale – the heroine or hero who finds love/fulfillment ("the treasure") is the one who follows an unmarked path; the most dangerous path; an inexistent path. My favorite has always been the Norwegian East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The heroine loses everything and has to both find and ride the four winds, and gain the trust and support of wise women, to rescue her love, who has been captured and taken east of the sun, west of the moon – the underworld (a retelling of the Eros-Psyche myth). The sun rises in the east; the moon in the west.
Translated into contemporary terms: beyond goals and finish lines. Beyond what we see as universal markers of time and direction. When you recognize what they are, you realize they're only universal for us, inhabitants of planet Earth in this (long, to our view) period of time in which the sun and moon behave as we are able to predict them to behave. Just as with goals and finish lines, we give them their meaning. They don't have human-defined meaning in and of themselves.
posted by fraula at 1:38 AM on February 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Read most any folk tale – the heroine or hero who finds love/fulfillment ("the treasure") is the one who follows an unmarked path; the most dangerous path; an inexistent path. My favorite has always been the Norwegian East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The heroine loses everything and has to both find and ride the four winds, and gain the trust and support of wise women, to rescue her love, who has been captured and taken east of the sun, west of the moon – the underworld (a retelling of the Eros-Psyche myth). The sun rises in the east; the moon in the west.
Translated into contemporary terms: beyond goals and finish lines. Beyond what we see as universal markers of time and direction. When you recognize what they are, you realize they're only universal for us, inhabitants of planet Earth in this (long, to our view) period of time in which the sun and moon behave as we are able to predict them to behave. Just as with goals and finish lines, we give them their meaning. They don't have human-defined meaning in and of themselves.
posted by fraula at 1:38 AM on February 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm slowly plodding along the marathon of life, focused only on the people who are passing me, ignoring the people I'm passing. I look to the side and see some nice recliners with a laptop and hang out for a bit, cruising metafilter, watching netflix. Yeah, time to get back on the track before someone else passes me by.
posted by rebent at 6:50 AM on February 26, 2014
posted by rebent at 6:50 AM on February 26, 2014
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posted by jammy at 10:04 AM on February 25, 2014