Your Vivid, Vibrant Everyday Life
· The Atlantic
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What if your life could be richer and more delightful without your having to change anything you’re currently doing?
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For most of us, when we think about making our lives better and happier, we think of meaningful work, healthy bodies, and thriving interpersonal relationships. Those goals are important. But they can also take years to achieve, and it’s hard to know if and when you’ve even succeeded. Other types of pleasures also exist. Simpler, smaller, and easily achievable ones—the delights of experiencing the moments life offers by connecting ourselves to the physical world.
Some time ago, I wrote an ode to the stick-shift car. I thought it was a trifle, but a surprisingly large number of you read it. The small, seemingly insignificant experience of controlling an automobile by clutching and levering its gears turned out to be deeply meaningful. I became infatuated with what that discovery meant.
In the four years since publishing that article, I wrote a book about the topic: The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life. It’s about the sensory enchantment of everyday life: acts such as shifting a car’s gears, holding a mug of tea, or hearing the crunch of a twig underfoot. I learned so much about what makes these small pleasures delightful, why they can feel rare, and why we might struggle to take them seriously.
Now I want to help you rediscover the experiences you are already having—experiences from which you might not have thought to derive joy. Ordinary Extraordinary is my new newsletter series here at The Atlantic. The lessons we’ll explore together are easy, because they don’t require you to change your habits or reinvent yourself. You just need to learn how to accept the sensory gifts the world offers you, all the time.
We will look at familiar topics—including nature and health, family and social life, and even running errands—but in a slightly unfamiliar way. Instead of assuming that you have to change your life to make it better, we will focus on living the life you already have, just a little differently. Along the way, I hope you will ask questions and share ideas with me directly, too.
Sign up to receive one edition every Saturday morning for the next eight weeks. Join me as we inhabit the world more fully together.