If you haven’t heard the news yet, lagom is here to revamp your life.
If it seems like Scandinavian concepts seem to have taken over the world in the past couple of years, it’s because they have. Europeans have been the model citizens for a while now, and instead of just admiring them silently from afar, the world has started to really take notes on how to transport their picturesque European lifestyle to all corners of the globe.
First, we hygged and spent cozy nights indoors feeling like we were on pampered sick days done right. And now, we are supposed to lagom, but have we been doing it all along and not even knowing it?
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But unlike its sister hygge, lagom seems a lot more practical, and frankly a lot more doable on the daily.
A hygge here and there is great, but for the everyday responsible lifestyle, lagom is the reminder of what’s practical.
It’s not a revolutionary concept, it’s basically what our elders have been teaching us since we could talk, but sometimes we need to go back to basics to set ourselves straight at any age.
If we eat too much, we’ll get sick. If we work too much, we’ll burn ourselves out. If we chill out too much, we won’t get anything done. If we spend all day looking at our phones, we’ll miss what’s going on with the people around us.
To say that lagom should be common sense is completely accurate, but when we really think about it, how often do we actually lagom in everyday life? We all have things that we do way too much – eat junk food, take selfies, binge watch – so these are the perfect things to apply some lagom to. Moderation is key, and although we should know this, we seem to forget it, A LOT.
Food wise, lagom is similar to the French diet. Having a little bit of everything is supposed to prevent you from binging and craving naughty things, and it keeps you happy and healthy as well.
Lagom is also great for budgeting money. We can’t avoid big purchases altogether, but if we avoid splurges and impulse buys when we can, and think a bit more about the little things we buy before we buy them, we’ll probably be more frugal overall.
Lagom is great for other vices, too. Gambling with lagom is doable and probably the best way to approach it. If a bottle of wine a week is what I consider lagom, then maybe I’ll have a small glass every night. I also might drink a whole bottle of wine tonight and then not have wine for the rest of the week, and that sounds fair and doable, too. As long as it all balances out in the end with a lagom total we can be happy with, we should feel pretty good about our choices.
What lagom doesn’t really work for are the times when being responsible isn’t necessary, because let’s face it, a life worth living isn’t lagom 24/7.
The best part of these concepts is that they don’t have to be all-encompassing, you can lagom in between your hygges, and feel perfectly accomplished doing so. Life isn’t a static state of being; there are gonna be times when you pamper yourself, work your butt off, keep it status quo and wild out, and it all combines together to make a well-rounded and amazingly complex life.
If nothing else, these trendy Scandinavian terms help us become aware of what we’re doing, and what kind of life we’re living at any given time. We may not need the foreign terms and trends to be happy and well balanced, but if it makes you feel better about your life and your choices than lagom it up by all means.
Besides, we’ll always have our own special term for having an amazing adventure abroad with new friends to fit in between our new trendy terms. Lagom on the daily, hygge when needed, and then when you’re ready, Contiki with no regrets.