Landed

On moving, small joys, and beginning again.

Notes on happiness
issue #05

I have officially landed.
It is done. Finito. I have successfully moved all my books, my stuff, my life into a new place. My original plan had to be amended, but thanks to the help of my siblings and good friends it was smooth sailing. At the moment I am enjoying a good French red wine and settling in to what will (hopefully) be my home for a while. I am gonna need some more bookshelves.

Happiness, noted

It is no exaggeration that this week’s sole focus has been getting ready for the big move. Nevertheless, there have been many happy moments in between all the packing and sorting.

• Lots of laughter and pure joy during boxing class. It was for sure one of the more demanding classes we’ve had so far — but the amount of laughing really made this a fun and memorable class.

• Winter Outdoor Day, is a thing we have here at my workplace. We are encouraged to be outdoors, either on organised activities or do something else with a coworker. So I spent the day at Sognsvann with a dear friend and colleague. We walked about 8km, had some lunch in the cold and just talked, enjoyed the sun, the snow and the cold wind against our cheeks. I love a good outdoors day.

• James Clear’s newsletter. I’ve been getting this newsletter for a few years now, ever since I first read Atomic Habits and this week was truly a great newsletter that resonated with me. A quote that I will carry with me moving forward:

  «In the modern world, it is easy to feel like a passenger: reacting to notifications, responding to demands, consuming whatever you happen to drive past on your screen.

  But joy is found in being the driver. It’s the act of looking at the raw material of your circumstances — your time, your energy, your relationships, your skills — and seeing what you can make from it.

  It is the act of creating the life you want (in big and small ways) that makes you feel alive and imbues life with extra meaning. The fact that you can hold a vision in your mind and then, however imperfectly, bend reality a few degrees in that direction.»

• Moving day. Yes it was a workout. Yes it was stressful. But seeing your siblings come so prepared, with a plan and an attitude of «we got this» and good friends spending Valentines Day moving heavy boxes with me, really makes me appreciate the people I have in my life. Bonus: the cat I have tried to befriend for nine months finally decided to warm up to me and spent a few hours running after us for cuddles while we moved boxes.

• A scrapbook. While unpacking boxes I found a scrapbook I made for my big 30s celebration. It was filled with notes, pictures, funny moments from the party. To my delight, I had turned the rest of the book into a scrapbook of big moments in my life. What a joy to find it and look back at a life well lived.

• A glass of red wine. A great playlist playing. Candles. And a face mask. Sunday perfection.

Reading lately

Reading has been slow this week due to the recent move. My solution became to stick with my audiobooks which proved to be a successful choice. I finished El Viento Conoce Mi Nombre by Isabel Allende — and I am not really sure what to make of this book. I have previously loved her books, but this was far from her earlier work that I am most familiar with. Nevertheless, I am truly happy I chose to listen to it in Spanish. I have had a goal of making sure to listen more to Spanish books and this has been a good habit for me.

I jumped straight into a book that caught my attention last time I was looking for new audiobooks: The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah. I am enjoying listening to these women’s stories and experiences. It is truly freeing to listen to how many women discover as adults that they are more fluid in their sexuality than previously thought.

For the coming week I am aiming to go back to one of the current reads I had on my nightstand throughout January, or perhaps I find another book that stands out.

Until next time,
happy reading! ✨