My Gen X Playlist: Water is Wide – Indigo Girls, Jewel and Sarah McLachlan (Lilith Fair)

Daily writing prompt

What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?

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Each September, my friends and I leave the city and go camping to hike and fish in the mountains. As I was thinking and preparing for the trip, I googled a few survival searches. One thing I was curious about was how long a person could survive without water.

The general consensus is that people can survive for around three days without water, with estimates typically ranging from two days to a week. Wilderness guides often refer to the “rule of 3”, which says that a person can live for 3 minutes without air (oxygen), 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.

– svalbardi

The rule of three is pretty interesting. In a way, it inadvertently creates a scorecard. Three minutes, three days, three weeks. Breathing, drinking and eating. I can’t imagine a situation where all three would be at risk, but I’ll take this bit of information and store it somewhere. You never know when this will come in handy.

Scorecard aside, all three are important in our daily lives. Recently, I’ve been practicing breathing exercises for stress, drinking water to remain hydrated and eating as healthy as I can with a few cheat treats peppered in as a reward. In keeping with my new mantra, I’m going to just keep it simple. Otherwise, the sheer volume of information would be overwhelming and probably derail me. Maintaining good health is not easy, but in my fifties, has become a necessity. This morning I was reading Decaying and Declining’s blog about using a time machine and having a conversation with his younger self. I’d like to buy a ticket on that machine for my own personal ride. There are a few words of wisdom that I’d like to impart on my younger self. One, is to be healthy from the get go. It’s too difficult trying to undo years of poor habits. The second bit of advice is stolen from Decaying and Declining’s playbook – buy Apple stock at $0.10 a share. With those two in hand, I think I got it covered. Now all I need is for Decaying and Declining to hurry up and build that time machine.

Because this morning’s post all started with water, Water is Wide is added to the playlist. Water is Wide is a traditional Scottish folk song with lyrics that partly date back to the 1600s and tells a story of two lovers who are forced to live apart. The Indigo Girls, Jewel and Sarah McLachlan covered this in 1997 at Lilith Fair. I’ve always loved the acoustic guitars mixed with their harmonies. I hope you do, too. Enjoy.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

The water is wide, I can't cross o'er
And neither do I have wings to fly
Give me a boat, carry two
And both shall row
My love and I

Love is gentle, love is kind
The sweetest flower when first it's new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew

There is a ship that sails the sea
She's loaded deep as deep can be
But not as deep as the love I made
I know not how I'll sink or swim

The water is wide, I can't cross o'er
And neither do I have wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row
My love and I
And both shall row
My love and I