What "Don't Die" means to us... 🏁 ON ANY SUNDAYS

After several weeks of “Going Fast” traveling via van, motorcycles and planes from Wyoming to Mexico to Los Angeles to the Mojave desert and Portland and back again, we decided to spend a weekend off the grid and off the grind. We went moto-camping (crazy, right?) at a small event in the California desert. Unexpectedly, we ran into several people who were not only wearing our gear - but breathing life into it in a way that reminded us of what the "Don't Die" part of GFDD is. 

There are "small deaths" in this life that contribute to a "Slow Death" we exist to go to war with everyday. 

We posted an article on our site years ago titled "What 'Don't Die' mean to us." 

 

After a weekend, and to be honest an insane past month of races, campouts, moto-shows, off-roading, 4x4'ing, and witnessing a culture and community come to life inspired by nothin more than telling a better story with their life - we wanted to share a poem from that article. 

Maybe it'll spark somethin' for ya. 

See you out there. 

-GFDD

 

"He who becomes the slave of habit,
who follows the same routes every day,
who never changes pace,
who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,
who does not speak and does not experience,
dies slowly.

He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones "i’s" rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,
dies slowly.

He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy,
who is unhappy at work,
who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,
to thus follow a dream,
those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives,
dies slowly.

He who does not travel, who does not read,
who does not listen to music,
who does not find grace in himself,
she who does not find grace in herself,
dies slowly.

He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,
who does not allow himself to be helped,
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops,
dies slowly.

He or she who abandons a project before starting it, who fails to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know, he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know,
die slowly.

Let's try and avoid death in small doses, reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead to the attainment of a splendid happiness."

 

— Martha Medeiros

 

Go fast, don't die.

-GFDD