Living Lagom
How the Pandemic has taught us about enough
Lagom, pronounced la-gum, is the Swedish way of proclaiming an adequate amount. If you recall the story of Goldilocks, whenever she found something in the bear’s home that fulfilled her need, she stated it was just right. That’s what living a Lagom life is about, one of moderation and contentment, having enough to satisfy a need.
Unlike hygge, which is to get cozy in the moment, lagom is long-term. It’s finding the balance of having enough for us with some left to share with others. It’s shedding our desire to take it all and replacing it with the anti-human notion of what we need for today.
Considering 2020 has been the year we’ve all been at home more, lagom is becoming less a lifestyle idea and more a way of living. Remember the great toilet paper/paper towel shortages that lead to shops imposing limits on how many rolls a person may buy.
What about the spring lock down shelter in place orders we were under? How many people got busy and cleaned out their closets, attics, garages? The motivation wasn’t a sudden feeling of I have too much. Instead, we were bored and had time to kill. But the forced stay home time let us see all the extra things we had accumulated, some of which we had forgotten about owning.
Every January, (and we have one happening in a few weeks), many of us will make a resolution to lose weight. Some will succeed, and then there’s the rest of us who fail. I propose if you want to lose weight, adopt the Swedish idea of lagom. It’s a no- fail way to achieve your goal. I’m not talking about eating in moderation and taking just enough for you from a serving dish, Though that is a healthy way to lose and maintain weight. I’m speaking more metaphorically. You can lose weight by decluttering your life. Choose to eliminate from your house everything you do not use, clothes you do not wear, games you no longer play, etc. Ask yourself what is its purpose. If you do not use it regularly, then say goodbye to it.
Fewer clothes in a closet keeps the ones hanging in it fresher looking. The less knickknacks on a shelf, the fewer pictures on a wall, means less to dust, which equals more time for play. Less is more. Less to clean and take care of means a lighter, less stressed you.
So how can one stick to achieving living with enough? Like you do with every plan you make. You make of list of what needs to be done, then do it. If it helps, reward yourself when you accomplish a goal. But not with buying something to fill up free space unless that item has a definable need. Instead, try hitting a driving range after you clean out your closet. Treat yourself to takeout and a movie after the garage has been put in order.
Here are some suggestions on how to start living a moderate lifestyle:
- Make a plan to tackle one room at a time. Sort everything into piles: Keep, Donate, Throw Away. (don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll have a yard sale. They are last year’s normal. Adopt the Frozen mantra: Let it go)
- One in/One out rule of buying. For every item you buy, one thing in your home must go. Buy a shirt, take one from your stash. Better yet, buy one, let go of two.
- Make a clutter containment space. Put a bin/basket in a spot and put things there that have no place to go yet. When it’s full, then sort through and find a home for these things (junk draws are not the answer). A great idea for family clutter is buying a bin for everyone and placing them on the stairs. Get into the habit of carrying your bin to your room every night and putting things away.
- Adopt the one touch paper rule. Don’t bring in the mail and lay it down. Sort it immediately- place bills in a pile where they will be dealt with. Immediately throw away or put the rest in a recycle bin.
- Spend twenty minutes a day cleaning your home instead of saving it all for a Saturday. Living a balanced life means doing every thing in moderation, including house and yard work.
- Eliminate things you don’t enjoy doing from your life. The book club you joined doesn’t read the works you like, find a new one. You love the people you work wit but hate your job. Find one you can feel happy doing and keep in touch with your former co-workers.
Lagom is about finding out what makes you feel alive and less stressed. It’s taking enough to live and giving back more. It’s a yin and yang sense of balance that we can all achieve with enough effort.
Stephen King in his book, On Writing, said no matter how tight you think you’ve written, plan to edit your work by at least ten percent, always. Apply this to the lagom life. Declutter your world by at least ten percent, then go back and do it again.
Someone once said you can’t take it with you. Egyptians believed you could so they built tombs to hold almost everything they had and deemed necessary in living. The truth is the mummies never enjoyed their possessions in the afterlife, neither will you. So why stockpile goods to leave behind for others to fight over or throw away. Plan instead to leave them with memories.
