Skip to content

Savoring: The Sunset Series Returns

2021-07-27 · letter vlog · John · 3:54 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Internet & YouTube) · mode: Personal essay · tags: recurring series, on location

Watching the sun set over Lake Michigan, John argues for savoring (taking slow, thick time to take in good things that happen slowly), says we go on because despair is untrue and life is beautiful despite its pain, and hopes Hank savors a sunset too.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Good news happens slowly: a Lake Michigan sunset, Julia Baird's Phosphorescence, savoring and well-being

  • ★★ John recalls Hank telling him that bad news tends to happen all at once while good news often happens slowly; the sunset is good news happening slowly. — 00:00:00 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John watches the sun set on the western shores of Lake Michigan, which he says is known locally as America's third coast. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John has just read Julia Baird's wonderful book Phosphorescence, which is about the importance of savoring experiences, like really tasting an Oreo or watching a sunset. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Baird cites several studies linking savoring to well-being, which John says aligns with his own experience. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John has had years when many wonderful things happened that he could not enjoy or take in, lacking the time or psychological well-being to savor them. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ On days when he is well and slow enough, John savors routine wonders like the sunset, for him the one daily phenomenon that never gets old. — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ Savoring takes practice and slow, thick time, the kind needed to see the good things that do not happen all at once. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — YouTube's breathless editing for distracted viewers; John leaves in a breath

  • ★★ Slow time is not YouTube's strength: for years John has edited nearly every breath out of his videos, since in a hyper-distracted landscape a half-second pause sends viewers to other tabs; here he leaves a breath. — 00:01:27 · YouTube, attention economy

00:01:58 — How and why we go on: despair is untrue, life is beautiful; Twitter's 'what's happening'

  • ★★ John has spent much of his life thinking and writing about how we go on, especially with mental health challenges, and says how we go on is linked to why. — 00:01:58 · mental disorder
  • ★★★ We go on because despair may be powerful but is untrue: there is light in front of all of us. — 00:01:58 · hope
  • ★★ We go on to help those we love, including those we don't know but still love and those not yet born. — 00:01:58
  • ★★★ We go on because life is beautiful; it is also awful, painful and unjust, but none of that negates its beauty or the gifts of savoring it. — 00:02:31
  • ★★ John is often obsessed with what's next and with feeling busy and engaged with the right now; Twitter's box asks 'what's happening?', and he has wanted to be part of it. — 00:02:31 · Twitter

00:03:18 — What's happening slowly; John wishes Hank were there and hopes he savors a sunset

  • ★★★ Much of what's happening isn't fast, news or new, and nobody tweets about it: water rolling in and out, the sun setting and rising, lives being lived. — 00:03:18
  • ★ John wishes Hank were there to smell the pine trees and feel the wind, but notes the sun will set wherever Hank is and hopes he has a few moments to savor it. — 00:03:18 · Hank Green

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says the video is part of The Sunset Series, a set of videos looking at horizons that goes back to 2016. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: savoring · sunset

Also: People: Julia Baird

Works: Phosphorescence

Organizations: Twitter · YouTube

Concepts: attention economy · hope · mental disorder

Places: Lake Michigan

Products: Oreo

Also centred on sunset: Civil Twilight

← Previous: The Last 25 Questions I Asked Google · Next → Can You Trust Science Too Much?