Mindy Peterson, NCTM

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

Life changes – and so does our definition of balance. Discover what inspired Lagom Life and how paying attention, making adjustments, and asking better questions can help us live well.

I’m Mindy Peterson and this is Lagom Life, your weekly dose of equilibrium.

I first discovered and started listening to podcasts somewhere around 2017. I was immediately hooked on this opportunity to learn from people I might never otherwise encounter. I could hear researchers explain their discoveries, hear my favorite authors discussing their work, and explore ideas while driving, working out, or doing mindless chores around the house. I loved that podcasts could make an ordinary part of the day more interesting or meaningful.

However, there was one podcast I felt surely must exist… and it didn’t. That led me to start Enhance Life with Music in 2019 to spotlight all the ways music can make our lives better. Music isn’t just entertainment. Music can rewire our brains; improve our health and wellbeing; reach those with dementia; enhance athletic performance; and so much more. This continues to be an incredibly rewarding project, allowing me to talk with scientists, educators, health practitioners, artists, and other fascinating people about the many ways music can enhance our lives.

So why did I start a second podcast, Lagom Life?! When I started Enhance Life in 2019, my two kids were in junior high and high school. My oldest had her drivers license and I had entered that stage of parenthood where my kids were more independent and I had a little more freedom with my time and energy. Since then, I have made a career change, my husband and I became empty nesters, and I entered my fifties.

Throughout these changing seasons of life, I’ve become increasingly fascinated by what it actually means to live well, and by the concept of lagom. I love the idea behind this Swedish word: not too much, not too little, but just the right amount. Throughout my entire life, I have always had a strong pull toward balance. Homeostasis. Equilibrium. A sense of being in balance.

I’ve been a musician for most of my life. I started piano lessons in first grade, and music has been a constant thread through my personal and professional life. Sometimes I wonder: Did I gravitate toward music because I was naturally drawn to balance? Or did years of studying and making music cultivate that desire in me?

Music involves so much balance. There’s melody and harmony, tension and resolution, sound and silence. And when you’re making music, you’re constantly making adjustments. You’re listening, responding, coordinating all the various elements to create something that feels just right.

Maybe I’ve carried some of that into the rest of my life. Or maybe balance is simply something I’ve always needed. Either way, it’s a question I find myself returning to as one season of life transitions to another: What does just right look like for me, right now?

Clearly, the answer changes. Balance looks different in different seasons. Over the years, I’ve been a mom, the primary parent, a full-time employee, a part-time employee, a small-business owner, and someone pursuing passion projects and hobbies alongside the other responsibilities of life. Each role comes with different demands and priorities. Different definitions of what a good day looks like.

And sometimes, what works beautifully in one season of life simply doesn’t work in another. For example: One gift we received for our wedding in 1997 was Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages. We found this very helpful, and one of my top love languages was physical touch… until I had two young children! In that season, someone was touching me, hanging on me, climbing on me, or needing me in some physical way for what seemed like every waking minute… and I decided Chapman had missed the love language of going into a cave and not seeing anyone or being touched for a week! Something I usually loved could become something I desperately needed a break from! My kids are now in their 20s, and one of my greatest joys in life is seeing them and getting a big huge hug.

The need for balance didn’t change. But what balance looked like changed dramatically.

That’s true for so many areas of our lives. There are seasons when we’re building careers, raising children, managing financial pressures, or caring for aging parents. There are seasons when we’re navigating health challenges or difficult relationships. And there are seasons when we finally have a little more breathing room to ask ourselves what we actually want our lives to look like.

Sometimes balance means adding something. Sometimes it means letting something go. Sometimes it’s recognizing that a situation doesn’t need to be optimized – it just needs to be good enough.

There’s no one-size-fits-all or one formula for figuring it out. The magic is in learning to recognize what we need in the season we’re in – and adjusting as needed.

It doesn’t mean that everything in life has to be perfectly balanced at all times. In fact, I think that’s an impossible standard – and one that creates more stress than it solves. Life is messy. Priorities compete. Unexpected things happen. Sometimes one area of life needs more attention, and something else has to take a back seat. Finding equilibrium is an ongoing process of paying attention, making adjustments, and learning what works for us as life changes.

I think lagom is about asking better questions:

• Am I giving too much of myself to something that no longer deserves so much of my attention?
• How can I be content with what I have while still making thoughtful changes when something isn’t working?
• Am I trying to keep up with expectations that don’t actually reflect my values?
• What everyday decisions am I making about my time, work, relationships, health, and money?
• What does enough look like for me right now?

I’m interested in these questions because I’m navigating them myself. These ideas have been percolating for quite some time. And I decided to take the plunge and explore them in podcast form, which is how Lagom Life came to be. Lagom Life currently releases every other week, a schedule that feels like a sustainable way to make room for this new project without creating an imbalance in the rest of my life. And I find that a fitting place to begin: A podcast about equilibrium that requires me to practice a little equilibrium myself!

I look forward to exploring what balance and “just right” can look like across different areas of life. We’ll talk about work and personal life, relationships, health and well-being, money, time, our homes, and the expectations we place on ourselves. We’ll learn from people who have spent time thinking deeply about these topics, and we’ll explore practical ideas that can help make everyday life a little better.

Let’s figure this out together

As excited as I am to bring you Lagom Life, I’m even more interested in making this a conversation where we figure this out together. Because your version of “just right” probably looks different from mine. Maybe you’re raising young children and struggling to find five minutes to yourself. Maybe you’re building a career and wondering whether the sacrifices are worth it. Maybe your biggest challenge isn’t having too much to do – it’s figuring out what to do with the freedom you’ve finally found.

Wherever you are, I’d love to hear about it. What stage or season of life are you in right now? What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to finding balance? Is there an area of life where you’re trying to figure out what “enough” looks like? And what would you like to hear us explore on this show? Your questions and experiences can help shape the conversations we have here. Let me know on email (mindy@mpetersonmusic.com), Facebook, Instagram, X, or LinkedIn.

Thank you for joining me on this exploration of living well, with just the right amount for the season of life you are in. To see future episodes, be sure to “Follow” the show in your listening app. Until next time, here’s to more moments of just-right.

In-Episode Promo

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