Author Information
Spontaneous Dan
SPONTANEOUS DAN
Trying to remember when was the last time Dan did something new or exciting was like trying to throw a pig in the air and expecting for it to fly, impossible.
Dan´s life was an automated routine of waking up, getting ready, going to work, getting back home, going to sleep and repeating all of this over and over again.
He used to be a spontaneous guy, everybody was always praising him on how spontaneous and cool he was, he used to be fun and his life seemed to be promising and exciting. What happened? “Life happened” was his common and dull response even though he himself didn’t understand the unexpected outcome.
He was a mid age, simple and easygoing guy who suddenly became so simple that the spontaneity started to wear off.
On the other hand, Dan´s professional life was very successful, he was a talented publicist with enough spontaneity left to always have an answer on how to sell anything to anyone but it rarely excited him anymore, the world of consumerism stopped being interesting to him long time ago.
One of those ordinary, boring days Dan found himself lost in his office. He suddenly felt as if he had woken up from the longest sleep and he didn´t like what he woke up to. He felt as if somebody else had been living his life for him and he was ready to take back control. He grabbed his jacket, wallet and cellphone and asked his secretary to cancel every meeting until further notice.
He left what seemed to be a million story prison and started walking with no established destination. He went into a bookstore/coffee shop and just sat there for a big while, he grabbed a pretty cover book and order coffee to-go even though he wasn´t going anywhere. He started conversations with the baristas and almost every lonely café visitor. Every person he talked to became so shocked of how comfortable it was talking to him, he really paid attention to people´s stories, such situations are usually awkward and uncomfortable but Dan had a thing with people, he was just easy to be around with.
One of the baristas was just stunned of how random everything was. A random guy entering a random café to make conversations with random people and yet it was almost pretty to watch, the randomness itself seemed to be something special.
“People will tell you anything dude, with so much information you could write a book,” said the barista to Dan. He suddenly felt enlightened, he had enough money saved to live decently for the rest of his life, after all, stacking people with unnecessary material goods did pay it´s big bucks, and thinking about the barista´s words he realized he could, he could indeed write, he had sort of a passion for it when he was younger but, just like with many other passion he had, he never persuaded it. Dan realized how alive he had felt since he left his office, how it had been so long since he last felt this happy and decided to take the spontaneity back into his life. In an inspirational rush he called his boss and quit his job, right on the spot, he didn´t even feel scared by it, which just motivated him even more. He bought a notepad and started collecting stories in the same café, after a while he changed locations but continued to do the same, spotting people with faces that just seem to have a story to tell. Every single person he knew though him crazy and told the “Dan Story” as if they were speaking about a man who suddenly went mad. Soon enough the story made it to a newspaper editor who, maybe sharing the writer´s hysteria, became interested with the idea of Dan. He asked Dan to write a column with his stories, he didn´t quite love the idea at first but later became in love with the job. At age 38 Dan never expected to have such bug turn of events in his life, but being such a spontaneous hearted guy he didn´t question the good things, he just went with it.
