Missing my stop
finding happiness in ordinary days
Notes on happiness
issue #08
I was late for work this week.
And yet I came into the office smiling and very much at peace with myself — even a little pleased with how my morning had started. Normally I would have been stressed out, rushing through the doors, apologising to no-one in particular and slightly out of breath from trying to get there on time. Instead, I just strolled in with my cup of tea in one hand and my current read in the other.
I was late because I missed my stop on the tube.
Why? I was in the middle of a very exciting chapter. In fact, I was so into it that I completely forgot I was going somewhere at all. I was just there in the moment, reading this amazing scene that drowned out everything else.
What struck me afterward wasn’t that I missed my stop. It was that I chose not to get stressed about it. I realised my mistake and got off at the next station. I didn’t start stressing about being late or feeling guilty that should’ve paid more attention. It didn’t sour the rest of my day either.
For someone who overthinks quite a lot, this felt almost revolutionary. I didn’t stress. Overthinking didn’t even show up. Usually it’s ready, knocking at the door the moment something dosent go according to plan, ready to start the spiral.
But this time there was nothing.
I realised later that I had been so present in that moment, so absorbed in the page in front of me, that there simply wasn’t room for anything else. That is one of the lessons I am learning through these notes on happiness; when I am truly in the moment, my happiness isn’t something I am chasing. It’s something that quietly appears when there’s space for it.
My happiness has many shapes and forms. Some are loud and clear, others are quiet and sneak up on me. What they all have in common is how they are slowly changing how I move throughout my daily life. Over the past few years I discovered the art of slow living. Now I feel as I am discovering the art of noticing happiness in all its shapes and forms.
And oh, the book in question?
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Until next time,
happy reading! ✨
