Are you overdue to pull a Ferris?

Skipping work to walk on my favorite mountain
Hey, Cameron. You realize if we played by the rules right now we'd be in gym? --Ferris Bueller

Sometimes I feel like life is getting away from me and I’m running to catch up, but it’s a train and I’m an out-of-shape cubicle-dweller, and this isn’t a movie. I don’t even have a horse, let alone dramatic effect to make sure I barely make it so the exciting scene can happen where I leap from car to car until I get to the front and punch out the engineer. There’s just no way my slow little desk-sitting legs are catching up with this train.

Do you ever feel that way?

Well, today is my birthday, and I decided to quit chasing the train and play hooky instead.

I highly recommend doing this occasionally. Think about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Why was that movie so epic? Because he got it exactly right! “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

And then he did something about it! He gathered his two closest friends and took them on an epic adventure. They went to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Sears Tower, had lunch at one of the finest restaurants in Chicago, joined the Von Steuben Day Parade. They drove Cameron’s dad’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California.

Thinking about how I would most like to seize this day, it’s not the Sears Tower or the Ferrari (or even my Miata). It’s a long walk in the woods, a lot of time alone, and an art project. I’ve been wanting to make a collage/watercolor mess for weeks.

I believe some intense chocolate cake is also in order.

What about you? If you could do anything in the world today, what do you want most of all to do? If you knew the world was ending tomorrow, what would you do today? It may not be practical to do that stuff every day, but it’s a waste not to do it at all. Can you take today off to do it? If not, what about tomorrow?


Update on the ebook: I meant to release it today, but I decided to change direction a little bit, so I’m reworking it. It will be ready soon. Meanwhile, why not subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it? It’s free free free!

12 thoughts on “Are you overdue to pull a Ferris?”

  1. Happy Birthday, Cara! 😀
    I love that Ferris Bueller quote! And the movie for that matter!
    Part of my ultimate day off would be to go for a walk along a beach, look out to sea and just watch the waves. It doesn’t sound like much, but it feels wonderful when I’m there! I’ll have to think about the other events for the day though… I don’t really want to waste any time.

    1. Thanks, Tom!

      Ahh, the beach! You’re right, just sitting there watching the water, what bliss. I need to do that more often.

  2. At this point in the year, I would be happy to have a fabulous hotel room, a million floors up, with a jacuzzi and my husband. We would order room service and stay in for an entire weekend! I’m pretty sure we could come up with a way to spend the time. 😉

    Most other times though, my ideal would be a cottage in a small town in England or Ireland. I would do the giant garden/small town life thing.

  3. You know how I would answer this don’t you? Once you figure out what you want to do given the hypothetical “last day,” ask yourself why don’t you keep doing it? Don’t pull a Ferris–that’s just one day. Pull a re-invention and get it for the rest of your life. (If I weren’t sick I’d have a good name to plug in there that’s equally witty, but alas…)

    Happy birthday! 🙂

    1. Good call on making your ideal life your ongoing reality. I’m working on that! (I’m on the six-month plan.) But even after you transform your life into total awesomeness, it seems like it might still be valuable to take a random day every now and then and do something completely different, just for variety and a different perspective. I’ll let you know what I think in a year!

      Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the birthday wishes! I appreciate your insights.

        1. I think so, too. I look forward to having more freedom to do it when it’s called for! Meanwhile, taking a personal day because it’s my birthday and I want to walk on the mountain is a really good start for a former perfectionist and pleaser like me! 🙂 I wouldn’t have been brave enough to do that before I started this quest for something more.

  4. Happy belated birthday Cara!!

    Is it weird that I initially thought your post was going to be about pulling a TIM Ferris? lol. That sort of works too though, doesn’t it…

    Anyway, answering your question is hard since I’m generally pretty happy with how I’m spending my days… But I’d probably get together with my best friend (who’s crazy busy these days so I rarely see her) and go out for a big breakfast and then to a cafe for one of our long philosophizing sessions and then some individual writing..

    But if I had magic powers, I’d transport both of us to some location that isn’t presently covered with 5 feet of snow.. or maybe we’d be on the road, driving down the west coast or something.. sigh, I can’t wait till summer… 🙂

    Great post!

    1. Thanks, Emilie!

      I almost put “no, not Tim Ferriss,” but by the time I thought of that, I was already out the door for my walk in the woods! 🙂

      Three cheers for being happy with your daily life as it is now!! I’m working toward that, but not there yet. And I love the idea of transporting yourself and your best friend to someplace warm for some awesome time. Sounds fabulous!

  5. Happy belated birthday!

    I’m enjoying my Saturday – the sun is shining, I’m drinking coffee with the old dog at foot, and thinking about (but not yet doing) my chore list … If I could do whatever? I’d spend the day with my Mom who’s 2000 miles away. She’s sick and older and I miss her.
    That’s it

    🙂

    1. Thanks for the birthday wishes! And three cheers for a restful Saturday morning in the sunshine! I hope you get to see your mom soon.

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