Lagom

I just read an article about a new philosophy of life, which appears to be catching on - or at least getting some press.

It's called “lagom,” a Swedish word that translates as “just enough.”

First of all, let's address the elephant in the room. Just because lagom was invented by Swedes doesn’t make it a dumb idea.

Really. I'm tired of people making fun of Swedes. Here's the thing – it's not their fault they're not Norwegian. I'm sure they wish they were, I'm sure there are many times when in the dark of the night they whisper to their ancestors, “Why, oh why couldn't you have moved just a few miles to the west. Everything would have been better.”

You know, if frogs had wings, they wouldn't bump their butts every time they jumped. Let it go, Sweden.

Anyway, I think it’s a solid idea, so try to forget where it comes from.

The most accurate translation of lagom is “just the right amount.”

Just the right amount of what, you might ask. Well, just about everything. We all need money, but twice as much money doesn't make us twice as happy. It's nice to have success and success takes ambition, but if you look at a list of the happiest cities in the United States, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC don't show up anywhere on the list, and let’s face it, those places are the epicenter of ambition. It's great to be close to family, but if you're skipping work to go antique shopping with your sister, it may cause some other problems in your world. Just the right amount, of anything.

There are other nuances. For instance, we should be acting in a way that recognizes we share this world with other people, and what we do affects them. I was actually just thinking about this today. In the town near where I live there's a grocery store that has a big parking lot, but a smaller area right next to a side door. If everyone parks correctly, there's room for three cars, so three shoppers at a time can save about a hundred steps. Not a big deal, except today I noticed that one car parked perfectly, but the guy behind took up two spaces. I didn't think about it much, but then I noticed that person left and the NEXT person to park took up two spaces as well. Certainly not the end of civilization, but just the sort of blithe indifference toward others that I feel like I'm seeing more and more of every day.

There's nothing new about this. Pick any religion or philosophy over the last few thousand years and this concept will come up. I can't believe we need to keep inventing it. Wally would be so disappointed.

Wally was a friend of my father's. Late in his life he was hospitalized and my dad picked him up when he was discharged. They stopped at the front desk on their way out and Wally wrote out a check for his stay. That was a half century ago, when prices were a little more reasonable, but it was still a significant amount of money. On the drive home curiosity overcame my father and he finally asked Wally if he could afford to do that. Wally said, “Edie and I can afford anything we want. We just don't want much.” I know it's a story I've told before, but it's one of those lessons I've tried to hang onto.

Who knows, maybe Wally was Swedish.

Copyright 2025 Brent Olson