This winter, I’m pondering the Swedish principle of “lagom.” Loosely translated, lagom means “just the right amount.” This is an extremely difficult concept for me to wrap my head around. It’s easy for me to understand how not having enough is a bad thing, but too much? That’s hard for an American like me to fathom.
The desire to accumulate possessions is deeply rooted in our country’s heritage. Sure, there are examples of people who reject this way of living. The Shakers were known for their austerity. Elder Joseph composed the famous hymn “Simple Gifts” which opens with the line “’Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free.” The 1960s and 1970s saw hippies defying their parents and joining communes.
But if you go way back to 1776, the original words in the Declaration of Independence were “life, liberty and property,” until Thomas Jefferson replaced “property” with “the pursuit of happiness.” Did Jefferson really think that pursuing happiness was different than accumulating property? Probably not. Thomas Jefferson built a mansion full of knick-knacks. He wasn’t known for self-depravation.
I grew up in the 1980s, which was a decade devoted to abundance. Big hair, big shoulder pads, double socks — there was even a movie called “Big” starring Tom Hanks that came out in 1988. Part of his character development was that he accumulated a lot of stuff.
If there’s a spectrum between depravation and abundance, I’ve always wanted to be on the abundant side because that seems the safest. Isn’t that what the Great Depression and the Great Recession taught us? Maybe, maybe not.
With food, if I don’t have enough to eat, I’m hungry. If I eat too much, I gain weight. Abundance isn’t always better.
With exercise, if I enjoy life as a couch potato, I feel sluggish. If I go hardcore, 20,000 steps a day, I risk pulling a muscle or wearing down my immune system.
With housing, there’s always the temptation to want a bigger, better, nicer place to live. But some of my happiest memories are when my family spent two weeks in our 8-by-8-foot tent trailer. A safe place to sleep and a flushing toilet is golden. The trick with small spaces is organizing them with exactly what you need.
There’s that Swedish concept of lagom again. Another way to translate it is “enough is as good as a feast.” In the spectrum between depravation and abundance, lagom plops down in the center and declares that sufficient is the right place to be.
As Christmas approaches, I whisper the word “lagom” to myself every day. Too many presents is not the right amount. Cramming a free turkey into my freezer is too much stress. Family, friendships, health and integrity — those are the things to accumulate in abundance. But credit card debt from Christmas shopping? No way.
Jennifer Bardsley publishes books under her own name and the pseudonym Louise Cypress. Find her online on Instagram @the_ya_gal, on Twitter @jennbardsley or on Facebook as The YA Gal.
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