It took me a while to find a blog title that represented what I wanted to write about. I knew I wanted to focus on minimalism, but I thought that word carried a somewhat negative connotation to it.
White walls. Rooms that echo with lack of furniture. Only owning one bowl. That sort of thing.
Since I wanted to spread my minimalist love to the people, I needed something that I felt was more positive.
what is lagom?
Lagom is a Swedish word that doesn’t exist in the English language. It has many translations, but basically means just the right amount. Think Goldilocks and The Three Bears.
This word perfectly encompasses what I hope to accomplish through this blog: Getting people to think about living with nothing more, but nothing less either. The ideal amount.
lagom is the new less is more
When we don’t have enough, we feel deprived.
When we have too much, we can feel overwhelmed by life and all the responsibility of taking care of things instead of ourselves.
Finding our just right, allows us to live in balance.
To live a beautiful life.
So I guess that makes me a lagomist. Though I’m not going to throw my bowl at you if you call me a minimalist . . . it’s the only one I got.
Love the title to this blog! Very cool!
I find the idea of minimalism very interesting. Can you explain how you decided what to keep and what to toss?
Thanks Keri! I plan to cover “the steps” I took in future posts…so stay tuned!
Do you speak Swedish? And if not, how did you come upon this word?
I’m not Swedish. I first read about lagom in a book about simplicity. I originally thought I read about it in a book called, “Choosing Simplicity” by Linda Breen Pierce. But it might have actually been in a book called, “Less is More” by Cecile Andrews and Wanda Urbanska.
I don’t remember which one it was since I read both around the same time a few years ago.
It was only briefly mentioned in one of the profiles, but the word stuck with me.
So basically I’m “borrowing” it from our Scandinavian friends since we don’t have an English term for it.
Thanks for the explanation! Many years ago I had a year abroad in Sweden, and it just occurred to me that it was then that I learned how nice it can be to live without extraneous stuff. I had the suitcase I arrived with, one big box sent ahead, and a few things I bought for my furnished room (there was a shared kitchen). I may not get to that point again, but I am definitely paring down and downsizing now, later in life.
Mmmmm! lagomist? Since it is Swedish, I do not feel bad about never hearing before.