I’ve been sitting here working on my app, and it is finally beginning to take on a shape and clarity that I really like. A form that gives us the opportunity to make life in the small things visible.
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A way of making life in the small things visible.
The app doesn’t demand lots of points. It doesn’t tell you:
You’re doing it wrong.
You didn’t do enough.
You ate too much.
You should have done more.
Instead, it says:
Look here. Look at everything you actually did, even though you may be walking around criticising yourself. Look at your day. You did enough.
Would you like to be one of the first people to test the app? I will soon be selecting 5–10 people for the first pilot group. You will be able to test the app for free and help me discover what works, what is unclear and what could be improved. You can find more information further down in this post.
Life in the small things – the perfect life for me right now
The days at home have become the perfect kind of life for me right now.
And I’m not talking about having everything I could ever wish for – although, to be fair, we certainly have plenty of forests around us here in our little village.
No, it’s about life being simple.
Life feels gentle.
Summer is beginning to draw to a close, and soon school will start again. Then the schedules will return. Times that tell us we need to do certain things and be in certain places.
But even those schedules feel gentler right now. They need to be followed, but they don’t have to take over our entire lives.
Perhaps it is precisely life in the small things that I have begun to discover. Not the big events, but everything that happens in the middle of a perfectly ordinary day.
A Friday that was really just an ordinary Friday
Like yesterday.
I had to go into town with my husband because he needed to leave his work vehicle at the garage. I took our car and picked him up.
And suddenly, that small thing we simply had to do gave us a slightly more luxurious breakfast at the Coop restaurant. Almost like having breakfast at a hotel.
Afterwards, we went to look at motorhomes, but there wasn’t one that felt right for us.
We did some shopping and then went our separate ways. My husband walked back to the garage while I drove home to put the groceries in the freezer.
Then I was quickly off again.
I was going to spend a little time with Bruno, a big white dog who needed to be let out into the garden. While I was there, one of my grandchildren came and helped me.
I also had time to stop by and see some of my grandchildren who live nearby before heading home again.
By then, my husband was home too.
Friday means tacos
In our house, Friday means my husband cooks dinner.
And on Fridays, he makes tacos.
They may not be my absolute favourite, but the rest of the family likes them – so I’ll keep quiet.
After dinner, we went on the same bike ride as the day before. This time, we had a little mission: we wanted to investigate the batteries on our e-bikes.
Photo: Tommy Nilsson
Photo: Tommy Nilsson
Photo: Tommy Nilsson
So this time, we used the more economical assistance settings.
I mostly rode in E mode, which means I have to work a little harder on the hills. And that’s not a bad thing. It gives me some exercise at the same time.
Halfway through the bike ride, I went for a swim.
Then we cycled home.
When we got back, we started looking at the numbers on the displays. It turned out that the difference between riding in E mode and using the slightly stronger assistance settings wasn’t actually very large.
The batteries showed a difference of only about three percentage points.
But then there was my knee
I discovered something else yesterday too.
I have probably been cycling a little too much.
My knee has started saying:
Be careful. I’m going to start hurting if you keep doing this.
And really, perhaps that isn’t so surprising.
In less than a week, I’ve cycled about 40 kilometres after barely cycling at all before.
Yes, apparently I’m still not very good at that whole idea of doing things in small portions.
Start slowly.
One step at a time.
Don’t go all in immediately.
That’s what my knee is trying to tell me right now.
At the same time, my whole head is saying:
Surely you could take just a little bike ride today? Just a small one?
My body replies:
No. Not even a small one.
The question is whether I’m going to listen to what it is telling me.
Perhaps this is also what doing enough looks like
And that brings me back to the app.
Because perhaps it isn’t only about making everything we do visible.
Perhaps we also need to notice the times when we don’t do something.
When we rest.
When we change the plan.
When our body says no and we actually listen.
That doesn’t have to mean that we failed at the day.
Perhaps it means that we took care of it instead.
Anyway.
There is something wonderful about those times when life feels as though you are simply floating along on the waves.
And that is exactly how it feels right now.
I don’t need to make life any bigger than this.
I just need to be here and actually notice it.
🌿 Between the lines – life in the small things
Perhaps this is where the simple life can be found.
Not in getting the most done. Not in making every day amazing, perfectly planned or filled with achievements.
But in actually noticing what is already there.
Breakfast together. A grandchild who turns up. A dog who needs to be let out into the garden. A bike ride. A swim. Someone else cooking dinner.
And sometimes a body that says:
That’s enough now.
I think we’re quite good at noticing everything we didn’t do. The things we should have had time for. The exercise that didn’t happen. The cleaning we postponed. The plan that changed.
But what if, instead, we stopped and looked at the day as it actually turned out?
Perhaps we already did enough.
And perhaps sometimes resting is exactly what we need to do.
Maybe life in the small things is actually the big life – the one we risk missing while thinking about everything we should be getting done.
💭 A few questions for you
- When you look back at yesterday, what did you actually do?
- Are there small moments you have almost forgotten because they didn’t seem “important”?
- How do you speak to yourself when you don’t have the time or energy to do what you had planned?
- Can you hear your body when it tells you that it is time to slow down?
- And perhaps the hardest question: Do you listen when it does?
You don’t have to answer them all. Perhaps it is enough to carry one of these questions with you throughout the day.
🌱 Would you like to be one of the first people to test my app?
I’m looking for 5–10 people who would like to join the very first test group for the app I’m developing.
You will be able to use the app for free during the testing period and try it in your own everyday life.
What I mainly want to know is how the app works for you. What feels easy? What is unclear? What is missing? Is there anything that doesn’t work the way you expected?
You don’t need to be technically minded. I’m looking for ordinary people with ordinary lives who can help me notice things that I may no longer see myself after working with the app every day.
The app is still under development. Before the first test group gets access, I will make sure that each tester has their own account and that users’ information is kept separate.
Interested?
Fill in the form below. Registering your interest does not commit you to anything. I will select 5–10 testers for the first round.
Your email address will be used to contact you about the testing and, if you are selected as one of the testers, to invite you to the test version of the app later on.
And perhaps, as a tester, you can help influence what the app eventually becomes.
🌱 You may also like to read
This post is connected to several of my other reflections about time, everyday life and how we can make life a little more sustainable.
👉 Yellow Time – When Preparation Makes Everyday Life Easier
https://malix.se/12/gul-tid-forberedelser-vardagen/03/52/09/
👉 Life Reflections – Thoughts About Life, Relationships and Being Human
https://malix.se/livsreflektioner-tankar-om-livet-relationer-och-manniskan/
👉 Tools for Life
https://malix.se/verktyg-for-livet/
There, I collect more reflections and tools for making everyday life clearer – without turning it into yet another performance project.
💌 Would you like to follow along?
I write about life as it actually is. About everyday life, relationships, ADHD, compassion, time, recovery and everything that exists between the big things and the small ones.
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Live now, tomorrow may be too late.
Carina Ikonen Nilsson
Malix.se
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