austinkleon-com-zppigr.txt (7018B)
1 [1]Austin Kleon 2 3 • [2]Blog 4 • [3]Books 5 • [4]Newsletter 6 • [5]Speaking 7 • [6]About 8 • [7]Contact 9 • [8][9] 10 11 You are here: [10]Blog / [11]Miscellany / Beyond survival mode 12 13 Beyond survival mode 14 15 Friday, January 18, 2019 16 17 [11363958_682236831908301_987442953_n-600x600] 18 19 There’s a turn in Dougal Robertson’s [12]Survive The Savage Sea that really 20 touched me. It comes on the family’s 25th day as castaways: the sea calms down 21 and there’s a “glorious sunset and a peacefulness of the spirit.” The group 22 takes turns singing songs to each other. And then: 23 24 I felt that we had already gone beyond thinking in terms of survival. We 25 had started living from the sea as an adapted way of life… we no longer 26 thought of rescue as one of the main objectives of our existence; we were 27 no longer subject to the daily disappointment of a lonely vigil, to the 28 idea that help might be at hand or was necessary. We no longer had that 29 helpless feeling of dependence on others for our continued existence. We 30 were alone, and stood alone, inhabitants of the savage sea. 31 32 Nina Katchadourian talks about how much of the book (her favorite) is really 33 about [13]what it’s like to be a family, and I think that’s why this scene 34 touched me so deeply. 35 36 There are moments with children, even in a boring, safe, suburban existence 37 like mine, where you just feel like you’re in Survival Mode. And every once in 38 a while it lifts and you feel like you’ve moved beyond just surviving, and you 39 feel like you’re actually living. The children eat their food. You all tell 40 stories and laugh. Books after tubs with no whining. You’re a quartet, and 41 you’re all performing the same music. 42 43 The reasons these evenings are so wonderful is because they are so rare, and in 44 such stark contrast to those Survival Mode days, when you’re just trying to get 45 rid of the day as well as you can. 46 47 I’m now thinking about a passage that comes later in the “Analysis” section, 48 when Robertson offers his thoughts on surviving in castaway situations: 49 50 If any single civilized factor in a castaway’s character helps survival, it 51 is a well-developed sense of the ridiculous. It helps the castaway to laugh 52 in the face of impossible situations and allows him, or her, to overcome 53 the assassination of all civilized codes and characteristics which hitherto 54 had been the guidelines of life. 55 56 “A well-developed sense of the ridiculous”—I cannot think of a better trait for 57 a parent! 58 59 Filed Under: [14]Miscellany Tagged: [15]comedy, [16]dougal robertson, [17] 60 parenting, [18]survive the savage sea 61 62 [19][ ][20][Search] 63 About the author 64 65 [21]Austin Kleon 66 67 [22]Austin Kleon is a writer who draws. He’s the bestselling author of [23] 68 Steal Like An Artist and other books. [24]Read more→ 69 70 • [25] 71 • [26] 72 • [27] 73 • [28] 74 • [29] 75 76 Subscribe to my newsletter 77 78 Join the 200,000+ readers who get it delivered free to their inboxes every 79 week: 80 81 [30]On This Date 82 83 • 2020: [31]Peanuts, remixed 84 • 2019: [32]Drawers 85 • 2018: [33]The right book at the right time 86 • 2017: [34]Seasonal time 87 88 Get the 10th anniversary gift edition 89 90 [35]Steal Like an Artist 10th Anniversary gift edition 91 92 Listen to the audiobook trilogy 93 94 [36]The Steal Like An Artist Audio Trilogy 95 96 Read my books 97 98 [37]Keep Going [38]Show Your Work [39]Steal Like An Artist [40]The Steal Like 99 An Artist Journal [41]Newspaper Blackout 100 101 Order t-shirts on demand 102 103 [42]t-shirts 104 105 Recent posts 106 107 • [43]How do you draw time? 108 • [44]A plan and not enough time 109 • [45]Autumn leaves (a September mixtape) 110 • [46]Human resources 111 • [47]Cut out verbs 112 113 More about me 114 115 • [48]Books I’ve written 116 • [49]My newsletter 117 • [50]Books I’ve read 118 • [51]Twitter 119 • [52]Instagram 120 • [53]Tumblr 121 122 Search this site 123 124 [54][ ][55][Search] 125 Follow me elsewhere 126 127 • [56] 128 • [57] 129 • [58] 130 • [59] 131 • [60] 132 133 © Austin Kleon 2001–2024 134 135 • [61]Blog 136 • [62]Books 137 • [63]Newsletter 138 • [64]Speaking 139 • [65]About 140 • [66]Contact 141 142 This site participates in the Amazon Affiliates program, the proceeds of which 143 keep it free for anyone to read. 144 145 146 References: 147 148 [1] https://austinkleon.com/ 149 [2] https://austinkleon.com/ 150 [3] https://austinkleon.com/books/ 151 [4] https://austinkleon.substack.com/ 152 [5] https://austinkleon.com/speaking/ 153 [6] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 154 [7] https://austinkleon.com/contact/ 155 [8] https://twitter.com/austinkleon 156 [9] https://instagram.com/austinkleon 157 [10] https://austinkleon.com/ 158 [11] https://austinkleon.com/category/miscellany/ 159 [12] https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0924486732/wwwaustinkleo-20/ref=nosim/ 160 [13] https://austinkleon.com/2019/01/08/of-course-well-make-it/ 161 [14] https://austinkleon.com/category/miscellany/ 162 [15] https://austinkleon.com/tag/comedy/ 163 [16] https://austinkleon.com/tag/dougal-robertson/ 164 [17] https://austinkleon.com/tag/parenting/ 165 [18] https://austinkleon.com/tag/survive-the-savage-sea/ 166 [21] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 167 [22] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 168 [23] https://austinkleon.com/steal/ 169 [24] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 170 [25] http://facebook.com/mr.austin.kleon 171 [26] http://instagram.com/austinkleon 172 [27] http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/ 173 [28] http://twitter.com/austinkleon 174 [29] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uQnyh7DAfp4uX9RN7XxEw 175 [30] https://austinkleon.com/on-this-date/ 176 [31] https://austinkleon.com/2020/10/02/peanuts-remixed/ 177 [32] https://austinkleon.com/2019/10/02/drawers/ 178 [33] https://austinkleon.com/2018/10/02/the-right-book-at-the-right-time/ 179 [34] https://austinkleon.com/2017/10/02/seasonal-time/ 180 [35] https://austinkleon.com/steal/ 181 [36] https://austinkleon.com/steal-audiobook-trilogy 182 [37] https://austinkleon.com/keepgoing 183 [38] https://austinkleon.com/show-your-work 184 [39] https://austinkleon.com/steal/ 185 [40] https://austinkleon.com/journal 186 [41] https://austinkleon.com/newspaperblackout/ 187 [42] https://cottonbureau.com/people/austin-kleon 188 [43] https://austinkleon.com/2024/10/01/how-do-you-draw-time/ 189 [44] https://austinkleon.com/2024/09/27/a-plan-and-not-enough-time/ 190 [45] https://austinkleon.com/2024/09/26/autumn-leaves-a-september-mixtape/ 191 [46] https://austinkleon.com/2024/09/24/human-resources/ 192 [47] https://austinkleon.com/2024/09/20/cut-out-verbs/ 193 [48] https://austinkleon.com/books/ 194 [49] http://austinkleon.com/newsletter 195 [50] https://austinkleon.com/category/reading/my-reading-years/ 196 [51] http://twitter.com/austinkleon 197 [52] http://instagram.com/austinkleon 198 [53] http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/ 199 [56] http://facebook.com/mr.austin.kleon 200 [57] http://instagram.com/austinkleon 201 [58] http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/ 202 [59] http://twitter.com/austinkleon 203 [60] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uQnyh7DAfp4uX9RN7XxEw 204 [61] https://austinkleon.com/ 205 [62] https://austinkleon.com/books/ 206 [63] https://austinkleon.substack.com/ 207 [64] https://austinkleon.com/speaking/ 208 [65] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 209 [66] https://austinkleon.com/contact/