“40 Days of Dating” by Jessica Walsh & Timothy Goodman
Two friends in New York – designers Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman – found themselves single at the same time. Tim was concerned about his “inability to commit”; Jessica wondered why “all [her] relationships keep failing. To confront these issues and learn more about love and dating, they decided to date for 40 days:
It’s been said that it takes 40 days to change a bad habit. In an attempt to explore and hopefully overcome their fears and inadequacies, Tim and Jessica will go through the motions of a relationship for the next 40 days: the commitment, time, companionship, joys and frustrations. Can they help each other, or will they fall into their same habits? Will they damage their friendship? What if they fall in love?
While this may seem, on the surface, like a premise for a romantic comedy, the honesty that Jessie and Tim bring to the project is touching and fascinating. At the end of every day they answered a list of questions – What’d you do? Did you learn anything about yourself? How do you feel about the relationship/project? – including drawings, pictures, and even screenshots of text messages and emails they exchanged.
They stopped posting updates on Day 36, just shy of the (revelatory, transformative?) 40-day deadline, but there’s a new video on the site promising updates after Labor Day. Take some time to read their beautiful account of love, frustration and modern courtship before they return – hopefully with some kind of happy ending.
Jake Christie 