Today is Sweden’s National Day, and I celebrated it with family and friends in my childhood neighborhood, Åkersberga. It was a lovely day! We combined the celebration with a birthday party for one of my sister’s children, who turned 12. There was delicious food, cake, and plenty of joyful memories. Sweden’s National Day is still a relatively new tradition. It used to be called Swedish Flag Day, and it’s actually only been a public holiday for about 20 years.
Now that I’ve moved my blog to Micro.blog, my blogging routine looks a bit different. So I figured it’s about time I updated my contribution to the Our blogging workflow list. Writing Most of the time, I write my posts in TextEdit on my Mac, in full-screen mode. I love the completely stripped-down experience – a blank screen slowly filling with words and sentences. Even though my blog posts are in English, I write them in Swedish.
I’ve conducted over 6,000 home inspections. That’s taken me to countless places — and brought me face-to-face with even more people. Each inspection is unique, not just because of the property, but because of the people I meet along the way. Every now and then, I come across a customer I’ve met before. With around a thousand visits a year, it’s not always easy to remember every face or every name.
I was a few minutes early to one of the jobs today. I sat down on a park bench to wait. The first thought that popped into my head was: “What can I use this time for?” As if something always has to be happening. As if it’s a loss not to do something productive the moment a gap appears. As if a quiet pause is a waste of time.
When I finished one of the day’s jobs, the customer asked if I wanted a cup of coffee. I politely declined and explained that I had to head to my next appointment. He smiled at me and said: “Oh yes, you have time.” And of course, he was right. Sure, I had another customer to get to, but it really wasn’t that urgent. There was room for a Swedish fika moment.
This blog has moved from Bear and now has a new home on Micro.blog. But it was far from an easy or obvious choice. I posted my first entry on Bear on February 16, 2023, and I still love the platform. My time there has led to several valuable connections, thanks to the fantastic community that has grown around it. Creating the Bearming theme also brought me both joy and new knowledge.
I listened to an interview with the Swedish artist Ernst Billgren. Among other things, he said: If we had half as many opinions, and if the ones we had were half as strong, I think we would live happier lives in a more peaceful world. I am convinced that this is true. There is so much suffering in our world and in our lives that could have been reduced or completely avoided with less strong opinions.
It’s been a pretty challenging week at work — lots of home inspections and a whole lot of driving. I did the math, and on average I’ve been doing six jobs a day and driving twelve Swedish miles (about 75 English miles). Yesterday, during my lunch break, just as I finally sat down to relax, the office called. They asked if I’d be up for working some overtime. I replied with a polite but firm “No”.
A long day, a social hangover, and a reminder that how we choose to look at things can make all the difference — even when people talk nonstop.
I heard an interview with the Swedish author Per Hagman. As a new parent, he explained that nights out and similar activities no longer appealed to him. He described it as being “free from freedom”. Even though I’m not a parent, I understand the feeling. It’s one of the reasons I’m not so fond of Swedish summers. People go a bit crazy! They have to sit at outdoor cafés and in parks all the time.
A little rant about the classic line “If I were you…” and why I think it’s more about the speaker than the listener. Advice is fine, stories are welcome — but don’t tell me what’s best for me.
People who talk too much are a red flag for me. Even when the topic is interesting, I end up drained. In this post, I reflect on silence, listening, and why some conversations leave me with a social hangover.
A few thoughts on why being social always seems to be the default, and why choosing solitude still feels like breaking some unspoken rule.
Did you know that Sweden is one of the top 10 coffee-consuming countries in the world? We really love our coffee. Not just the drink itself, but the whole experience. We love to fika. I actually started drinking this magical beverage pretty late — around 18. Back then, I was working as a bricklayer and felt it would be rude to say no when the people who hired me offered me coffee.
Inspired by Juha-Matti Santala’s post, Short History of My Blogging Journey, I decided to write a little about my own blogging journey — which has been a bit bumpy, to say the least. I started blogging about 20 years ago using Movable Type, which was pretty much the only tool available at the time. After about a year, I switched to WordPress. My first blog was called Smidigt (Swedish for “easy/handy”).
I’ve been thinking about why I write… Is it a call for attention? A hope that it might lead to something “big”? A fear of missing out? To be honest—yes, that was true in the past. And it felt good, for a while. But then, it started to itch… A constant sense that nothing was ever good enough, no matter how successful things looked from the outside. Always chasing the next thing, trying to unlock the secret to “success.
Sometimes I catch myself stuck in either-or thinking. Life keeps changing, though, and so do we — maybe it’s time to listen more to that quiet inner guide.
Too often we see limitations as obstacles, but in this post I write about how they can actually point us toward new possibilities — if we just look closely enough.
I haven’t written here in a while, but this post is about ignoring that “not today” voice and just getting started — whether it’s writing, working out, or anything else you want to keep doing.
Went to the hairdresser. I started explaining what I wanted… Then I stopped myself and said: “Just do whatever you think looks good.” The result? Something I’d never have thought of – and it looked great. What if we cut (or at least trim) our ideas and preconceptions in other parts of life too, every now and then? What kind of opportunities might show up? Let’s find out! ✂️