Perspective Activity: How would you choose your best 24?

Quite often in a classroom setting or corporate training session we throw out quotes like: “Live everyday like its your last day on Earth” or pose a question like: “What would you do if you had ‘X’ days/weeks to live?”

Both of these are usually trying to help students/learners look at their life from a different perspective. But experience and research dictate, that without some kind of emotional as well as cognitive reaction, not much will change.

Enter stage right — provocative creative nonfiction. Maybe have your adult students read the following very short story to challenge their perspective on beliefs or core values.

My Best 24

“48 hours” I yelled.
“72 Max.” The doctor replied, “But 48 for sure.”

“But it’s 2038, I thought we had all kinds of new medical Marvels these days?” I responded. “It’s still early stages of all the new cancer technology from recent collaborations and research, but the cancer needs to be caught very early in its development, not the later stages as it is with you.” The doctor said. He then went on to say, “What you got is a tad overwhelming to say the least”.
“So you’ll have about 48 Hours of coherent thought, after that it’ll go down hill really fast.” He finished.

After a few moments silence, he continued. “What we suggest in these situations, is to get you with legal and finance for an hour to get all your affairs in order… then one of the things we can do with the CHAIR, is we suggest you relive one entire day from your past.”

“What, you mean like Total Recall?” I queried. Chuckling, the Dr. answered, “no, not like recall. That’s trying to live something you never did. This is reliving an actual day that pulls all of the memories and emotions and feelings connected with that day. And why we suggest that, is after that one day, research has shown that you can really focus that last 24 or 36 hours on what you need to do and who you need to spend it with.”

As I sat there contemplating all that’s confronted be in the last 20 minutes, he casually asks “ Which one did you like better?”
“Which one what?” I respond.
“Which Total Recall movie?” he answered. “The original with Arnold, the first remake with Farrell, or the most recent one with that new guy?” I chuckled and casually replied “The first two were quite original in their own right. The whole premise was pretty intriguing and they both had their good points. The last one I thought was a lot like the original, but more gritty.”

“Okay” Dr. Johns went on, “so let me finish up here and get the paperwork done, then the nurse will put you in the CHAIR for a bit so that you can get used to it and then we’ll get you down to see legal.”

“What are you talking about the CHAIR?” I asked in a skeptical tone, “Are you going to induce me with all kinds of drugs and memory enhancers?”
“Actually no, but we do hydrate you with an IV” he replied. “The CHAIR is rather interesting as it is one of the amazing breakthroughs of true medical collaboration from around the globe. It’s part relaxing massage, part acupressure, part connected to your your neuro-pathways, and it really helps you to focus your thoughts. Don’t you remember about 10 years ago when you had writer’s block, I had you sit in a CHAIR for about 30 minutes and it sort of helped you quite a bit as I recall.”
“ohhhhhh…Right!” I responded in surprise wonderment. “That was a really interesting experience!”

“Right” he continued, “but now it has advanced substantially from that time and is used mostly for this kind of treatment for people with the acute disease and illness.

The CHAIR

As the doctor and nurses puttered around and busied themselves with paperwork, phone calls and compiling a book of legal forms together, I began to reminisce about my first time with the CHAIR.

As the doctor mentioned, it had been about 10 years ago — 18 months after my first best seller and I was in the middle of the second book and just had stalled. Some call it writer’s block, others call it creative stagnation. I called it a disaster. I loved the new storyline, but it just wasn’t going anywhere. So I thought I would do something different and to try a few new things.

Marijuana was already legal in most parts of the globe, but they were experimenting with new synthetic strands that were able to tap into specific aspects of the THC or hallucinogenic parts of the plant. I came to the doctor to ask him about it and he suggested the CHAIR instead.

He took me into a room that was like a small den of light wood paneling that smelled of cedar, and at the center of it was this massive recliner that was like a half oyster shell but it seemed to have all the support rests in the weirdest places. There was one that one across the middle of the back just below the shoulder blades. Another on the bottom of your butt and another that would sit behind the knees. Everywhere else was just a gap and at first glance it just seemed incredibly uncomfortable.

I remember him chuckling at my initial reaction to the CHAIR and he told me to relax and just sit down. So I did.

Immediately the gaps begin to fill with tiny little pinpricks, it wasn’t metal, I guessed plastic or like many hundreds or thousands of tiny supports behind my head and neck in the space between my entire back. I was wearing a semi hospital gown so that my back was exposed, and I was wearing boxers so therefore the same thing happened to the backs of my thighs and calves. Then another section folded up onto my bare feet.

At first it was incredibly weird and strange sensation, but as I begin to truly relax it was rather amazing. There was a slight vibration in the various areas of my body and within five minutes, I was out. I don’t mean ‘out’ as in a trip or unconscious, cuz I could still hear what was going on in the background, but I was in a state of immense relaxation. Within minutes I found myself with millions of thoughts and memories and impressions. Some were reliving actual memories while others were a hybrid of a true memories with something SciFi-ish.

The images began to retract and the Dr. slowly Jostled my shoulder trying to bring me to full consciousness. I remember immediately looking at him with stress in my voice saying I just got started. Again he chuckled and explained I had been here for 30 minutes. I was astonished. I got up incredibly refreshed, got dressed, thanked him, paid the bill, went home and for the next 72 hours wrote like a mad man. It was a rather astounding and profound experience.

His voice brought me back to reality. “Okay, so we’re going to send you over to legal in a bit, they are really backed up. We’re going to have the nurse put you in the newest version of the CHAIR for about 20 minutes just to help you get used to it and to help you maybe figure out what 24-hour period you would like to relive.”

I blindly followed the nurse to the ward that had the CHAIRs in them. They gave me half hospital gown and a pair of boxers to put on and ushered me into a very comfortable looking small den of dark paneling and the faint smell of oak. The new CHAIR was the same basic shaped like a big half oyster shell, but now there were no supports and I thought this is going to be really, really weird.

The nurses instructed me to relax and sit down. I said, “On what? There’s nothing there!” He just smiled and motioned me to sit down as it will activate itself really fast. Within nanoseconds of me starting to sit in this thing I was literally lifted off of the metallic surface a few inches. It felt it felt like that scene from one of the The Wolverine movies decades ago when the old and dying Japanese officer wanted to say goodbye to Logan. He was all on this sort bed of hundreds of metallic tubes that supported his entire body. But this was not metal. It was the strangest… floating on light is the best way I could describe it. The room was very comfortable 70 degrees. A warm summer breeze type air was blowing in the room and it conjured up images of summers past to help you relax. Immediately I could feel the sensors gently probing specific area around my head, neck and shoulders. As I relaxed, I quickly realized it was completely supporting me from the top of my head down to the tips of my toes. It was like floating on light

As this was going on the tech assistants were talking about how during my full session they would take my playlist and feed it into the A.I. port of the machine and it would somehow take impressions of the songs that I found most important to me, and it would be able to combine it with some of the memories and feelings and imprints that were coming up during the session so would all work together. One guy said it’s like the most amazing laser light show you’ve ever seen. Right away that would have sold me cuz I have been a huge Pink Floyd fan since the 70s.

My Journey

Thus it began. I started to reminisce about my life to try and figure out what I would choose as my best 24 hours. I hadn’t planned to do this in any sort of chronological order, but unlike a lot of people who really did not like their teen years, I loved my later teenage years and always said that if I had to relive a year it would have been the summer of when I was 17 or 18.

My first memories started the flood back to that one summer when I was employed part-time, I had my own car — it was a huge tank of a used car but it was great for partying and getting around. I reminisced about many of the concerts I went to my friends. One particular trip that we made to Niagara Falls New York to see Black Sabbath with this new band opening up for them called Van Halen. We ended up (it was a bus trip) missing the bus back to Toronto. So this group of 20 plus ‘high as a kite’ teenagers breaking into small groups trying to figure out how to get back to downtown Toronto from Niagara Falls, New York. We all travelled overnight and all had to cross a bridge that was the border. It was just an amazing adventure. Even how we all met up at 4 a.m. for the munchies at some A&W in the middle of nowhere Ontario.

Then I was catapulted many years later to vacation time with my kids (they were quite young). Often we spent summer vacation time with my now ex-wife’s family in Lake Okanagan. Her brothers were doing pretty good in sales. One had his own power boat so we could go water skiing, and her younger brother had bought a small laser sailboat that he brought up that we had a chance to use it as well. The weather was hot — there was always the occasional pretty heavy thunderstorm — but it was great. All the kids could play on the beach, we could swim in the lake and cooked on an open fire. Some of those times were also very important and had very strong Impressions on me.

The next thing I knew I was catapulted decades later and bought to Bahrain with some colleagues I was working with in Saudi and we are at the Formula 1 race. One particular day it was rather amazing we were races all day where was very hot we were out that night to a place that had amazing ribs, great beer, some live blues music. All in all it was a great weekend and it was a great trip with some great memories.

Then I was confronted with images from a number of sexual escapades from my time in Asia during the 20-teens. Like the unexpected and very pleasurable threesome that lasted two days for my 55th birthday.

That quickly morphed into a party from 10 years ago that was the celebration of my first number one bestseller book. Old and new friends were there, I flew my kids (and grandkids) out for it. It was a very satisfying and humbling experience. It was a great time with old and new friends and an amazing sense of accomplishment.

Then a torrent of specific memories started to flow, all based around the sense of accomplishment. I thought about the time that I spent with my Master’s thesis project and how long it took and how hard it was and how I basically had to completely rewrite the thesis based not only on the findings I had, but on the suggestion of my supervisor. I was catapulted back decades earlier too when I was working in public school system and help develop one of the first peer counselling programs in that school district and at that time where we were helping students to learn how to help those who are having struggles not only in academics but also in social life of a middle school in a not too nice area. Then to the time, while in grade 12, I coached (and led) a group of 12 year olds (most who had never played football) to a kids league championship game. This took me to a series of wilderness experience in my twenties when I was working with at-risk youth. West Coast Trail hiking, rappelling, river rafting and canoe/portage trips that I did over the years with a number of different youth groups and eventually even the public school groups that I was working with at the time.

The memories and feelings (and I’ll keep using the term ‘impressions or imprints’) just came at me in a steady stream that I could make no sense of. It was almost overwhelming as somewhere deep in the back of my mind I kept hearing, I could only choose one. I can only choose one.

Then my researcher mode kicked in and I began to look at some of the trends in what I was recalling. In other words, were a lot of ‘imprints’ focusing on the people I was with, or the immense challenge that I overcame, or some element of deep personal fulfillment? At this point all kinds of motivational quotes from the internet and great lines from classic philosophers started to bombard me. At the same time, I could feel I was I was losing it all, it was like trying to grasp and hold onto a cloud or fog that was dissipating. I was being woken up from what felt like only seconds, but had actually been 45 minutes. I was in such a deep meditation they didn’t want to wake me up earlier.

I was completely disoriented for the first few minutes and and literally was moving and shaking and saying stupid things like ‘what do you want?’ The technician in a very soft voice said, “Jack your time is up, legal is ready for you to do the paperwork.” I was still trying to grasp the fog of memories and simply said, “Oh okay”. In a daze I followed them around the ward for the next hour or so doing things in an almost out-of-body experience because as I was signing papers and ticking boxes on forms etc. I was told I was actually having very coherent conversations, but my subconscious was still processing everything that has happened for my time of the CHAIR.

Then they finally put me into another area to thoroughly just mellow out. It was a regular little lounge area there was other people milling about, like an executive Lounge in an international hospital with coffee, tea and some soup and snacks. As I sat there slurping my miso soup, I began to try and make sense of everything that had just taken place.

Three hours ago I wasn’t feeling that great and decided to come in and see the doctor. Now I find out I have terminal cancer, and only 48–72 hours to live, and I’m having to choose how to best spend that time.

I began to think about this ‘my best day’ concept. What is the true underlying question I needed to ask myself to decide what day I want to relive. And I came back with what is my core belief in life? What is most important to me in life? NOT what should be most important to me, nor what would be politically correct important to me, nor what would be the expectations of family and friends say is important to me… but what is most important to me!?

A line came to me from the years of playing and watching football and sports. Every once in awhile you’ll see an amazing game we’re both teams, or in solo sports were both players or competitors or opponents regardless of age, gender or race etc. have a thrilling match where both sides gave their all… and the commentators will say something like: ‘they left everything on the field.’

I began to realize the best times in my life, those that are more important to me were not focused on specific people nor specific activities, but any activity with any people that has so completely taxed my abilities that I left absolutely ‘everything on the field’. I began to use this as my criteria to search for my Best 24. Maybe this is what Coehlo meant by ‘personal legend’ in one of my all time favourite books, The Alchemist.

This then began to give some amazing clarity. I decided to bring three specific events with me to the CHAIR. Two mentioned above and one from late 2020 from of my time in Thailand with a new writing partner. I decided to see what the CHAIR would do with all three of these key moments in my life. And the Doctor was right! Now I had this figured out, I was extremely relaxed and able to focus on how to spend my last few days on this earth.

Final thought: By what process would you select your Best 24 if you were in this same situation?