This week, I was talking to my mom as she was preparing for Midsummer, one of the biggest celebrations of the year in Sweden, the longest day of the year.🇸🇪
She told me about her trip to the grocery store and how, this year, she wasn’t rolling her own meatballs. That may not sound like a big deal, but rolling meatballs for a large family gathering can be quite a chore.
There would be new potatoes with dill, meatballs, pickled herring, strawberries, and of course some kind of dessert.
There would undoubtedly be alcohol as well. After all, it wouldn’t be a Swedish Midsummer without it.
As she talked through her plans, I could almost picture it all. The grocery stores crowded with people buying the same ingredients they buy every year, and especially Systembolaget, the only place in Sweden where you can buy alcohol.
Since my mom and her boyfriend were heading up to their summer house in Dalarna, and my sister would be driving up with her little boy, I reminded my mom that she should take him to one of the larger Midsummer celebrations where children dance around the midsummer pole.
As I said it, I could vividly picture it: an accordion and fiddles playing in the background, someone standing with a microphone leading the festivities, and children hopping around the pole pretending to be frogs during Små Grodorna(The Little Frogs).
That conversation made me think about how Midsummer has changed throughout my life while somehow remaining exactly the same.
As a child, Midsummer was about cousins, lakes, and dancing around the midsummer pole. I spent many summers in Dalarna, where my grandparents lived. My aunt, uncle, and cousins would drive up, and we would spend hours playing, exploring, and enjoying the freedom that comes with long summer days.
As a teenager, Midsummer became something entirely different. It was about friends, freedom, staying out too late, and, if I’m being honest, usually drinking a little too much. Like many Swedish teenagers, the holiday became less about tradition and more about celebrating the start of summer.
As an adult, I find myself appreciating the things I once took for granted the family meals, the conversations around the table, and the comfort of traditions that connect one generation to the next.
Living abroad, holidays like Midsummer have a way of reminding you just how far away you are.
Not because you cannot celebrate where you are, but because you realize that somewhere else, the people you love are continuing traditions that were once your traditions too.
Hearing my mom talk about preparing for Midsummer dinner made me realize that some holidays never stop feeling like home, no matter how many years have passed or how many miles separate you from them.
And somewhere in Dalarna this year, my nephew will be dancing around that same midsummer pole, creating memories of his own. 🌼
Most people talk about following your dreams as if it’s an inspiring quote printed on a coffee mug.
What they don’t talk about is what gets left behind.
Leaving family, lifelong friends, a successful career, financial stability, and the comfort of knowing exactly where you belong is rarely romantic. It is messy, uncomfortable, and often terrifying.
Recently, I came across the story of someone who made exactly that choice.
He left Sweden, where he had built a successful career and a comfortable life, and moved to Atlanta to pursue acting. Not because it was practical. Not because it was guaranteed. But because there was a persistent feeling that there was something more he wanted to explore.
I think many of us have a dream tucked away somewhere. Maybe it’s writing a book. Starting a business. Moving to another country. Learning a new skill. Changing careers. We tell ourselves we’ll do it when the timing is right.
The problem is that the timing is rarely perfect.
There will always be responsibilities, bills, obligations, and reasons to stay where it feels safe.
What struck me most about this story wasn’t the acting itself. It was the willingness to accept uncertainty.
Starting over means becoming a beginner again. It means building new relationships, learning unfamiliar systems, and facing the possibility that things may not work out the way you imagined. Most people focus on the outcome. Few talk about the courage required to take the first step.
Success isn’t always measured by reaching a destination. Sometimes it’s measured by having the courage to begin the journey.
Whether the dream is acting, writing, entrepreneurship, travel, or something entirely different, there is something admirable about choosing growth over comfort.
Because in the end, failure is often easier to live with than regret.
And perhaps that’s the real lesson.
Not everyone needs to move across the world to follow a dream.
But all of us eventually face a choice between comfort and possibility.
The question is: what dream are you still waiting to start?
The story that inspired these thoughts can be found here:
There are times when my mind becomes my own worst storyteller.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably replayed a conversation over and over, wondering why someone said something, why they did something, or whether you missed a hidden meaning. I know I do, especially when I’m feeling anxious or uncertain.
A simple comment can turn into an entire story in my head. Before I know it, I’ve connected dots that may not even exist, assigning motives and meanings without any real evidence. Hours later, I’m mentally exhausted over something that may have been completely insignificant.
I’ve realized that anxiety has a way of doing that. It tries to protect us by filling in the blanks, but it often fills them with fear, insecurity, or worst-case scenarios. The story can feel incredibly real, even when it’s based on very little.
That’s why one quote has stayed with me:
“Don’t believe everything you think.”
I first came across it in the Swedish book Du kan ha fel (You Could Be Wrong) by Björn Natthiko Lindeblad. To me, the quote isn’t about dismissing our thoughts or pretending our feelings don’t matter. It’s a reminder that thoughts are not facts.
When anxiety takes over, a delayed text becomes rejection. A short answer becomes anger. A forgotten comment becomes proof that something is wrong. Before long, we’ve created an entire story without realizing that’s exactly what we’ve done.
I’ve certainly done that.
The quote reminds me to pause and ask myself, “Do I actually know this to be true, or is this my anxious mind filling in the blanks?”
Sometimes my first interpretation isn’t the right one. Sometimes the story I’ve created exists only in my own mind.
After all, thoughts are just thoughts. We don’t have to believe every single one of them. We get to choose which ones deserve our attention.
As we go on with our lives , our pride hardens our hearts, it hardens our being.
When it hardens our being, it becomes very difficult to experience joy.
The sages say, if you go inside and merge with the truth, you reconnect.
As you reconnect, you become love, you become the truth.
Pride with humility keeps the heart tender, honors our greatness; pride that lacks humility hardens.
Meditation, gives pause to our habitual tendencies so that we can choose a new.
Meditate to reconnect, to come into alignment with the Truth.
In that space, lives peace, joy, love, courage, discernment … Meditate, to know That which is temporally obscured, but never absent.
We all go through challenging times in life when you really feel like you are never going to be able to move on and feel better.
This is a trick for a too busy mind, when feeling down in the dumps.
A – Acknowledge
Accept that you are feeling down and that it’s OK!
B – Breathe
Sometimes when we are going through hard times we forget to breathe, taking a few calming breaths will automatically bring you back to the present moment.
C – Curious
Be eager to learn about why you are feeling this way?
D – Distract
Get busy doing things that will keep you in the middle meaning not going down to on the negative side. When you are having a hard time being positive is usually pretty impossible and we tend to head towards the dumps where everything is dark. Distract your self to stay as much as possible in the neutral space.
For me things like working out, binge watching my favorite Netflix show and working ( I love my job) works. I really have to make an effort to not have too much free time while I go through hard times. Not to run away from them I am just temporarily moving them back to a place because I might need them later in life. Just so I can have a little Middle time and gain some energy for life.
This is how I picture it so when I say staying in the neutral place I am meaning to stay in the middle of your emotional state.
