Searching for Hygge: Trend/Taste Seekers and Makers

A 'blank slate' ripe for decorating tips. My apt.

A week ago today BOMB CYCLONE descended upon New York City and I worked from home. Home decorating has never been the most intriguing subject matter to me. At my parents home, pictures went up on a wall and stayed there since furniture and decorations only consideration included, ‘Does it fit?’ and ‘Is it functional?’ meaning most of my childhood was IKEA furniture from the 1980s. After nesting ahead of the winter storm, I’ve had the changing sphere of Pinterest, trends and trying how to make ‘hygge’ happen. After spending my own measly budget to make an apartment a home, I filled up a cart with candles and bins for organizing — after a huge bill, hygge has still not found me. It's time for real inspiration.

In the age of the Influencer, tastes and trends seem to be declare by the millennial ‘popular’ crowd, but the zeitgeist that answers their tastes as trendy is still beyond me — except when in the aggregate. For example, HuffPo article entitle: “Forget Pantone’s Color of the Year [Purple]: We’re swooning over Pinterests [Green]," there are drastically different colors and statements of the year ahead. Bold vs. muted, experts vs. data, sophisticated vs. 'barney'. The experts rationalize their choice with political tones of complexity as purple chosen in Hillary Rodham Clinton's concession speech and the overcoming of divisive red vs. blue state politics. Boldly, I'm on the side of the data here — give me the serenity of that retreat so I can drown it all out. 

PInterest data-identified color of 2018

Pantone expert-identified color of 2018

Pinterest, I’m told, is the place for this type of inspiration. Though I’m a fan of Iliza Shlesinger’s comedy about women pinning, the aspirational mood board never struck my fancy. Form over function. Instagram consistently tugs on my heart strings as ‘gramable images inspire moments that I’m drawn to and lives that I aspire to worship — but with student loans and NYC rents, I live them vicariously through a phone screen. Pinterest has come back into my peripheral vision recently with their work with Ahaology and taste graphs.

Advertising has since reached peak 'Influencer'. I'm seeking Makers, Creators, Artists, and I'm seeing more banal shilling than ever before. The advertising agency is where creative minds went to go get a stable paycheck (cue Jerry Seinfeld's Clio award speech at 1:41), and Influencer marketing is magnifying that trend. I’m curious what the backlash will evolve toward — and my gut is that Ahaology made a bold, initial bet that’s going to pay off in 2018, to depend more on aggregates of sought after inspiration, than passive engagement appetites of Instagram ‘limages’ (lies+images).

Happier Pauses in 2018

A week ago today I returned home from my parents home and realized that I had forgotten this ridiculously old copy of a hardcover book I had been reading forever and was hoping to finish before the end of the new year. Returning from vacation for a staycation happens albeit once a year in my stationary New York life, so with an ideal that included spending my days being Pinterest-cozy with a book, I picked up 10% Happier by Dan Harris.

Dan Harris

10% Happier is the story of Dan Harris, a reporter turned on-air TV news talent with an ego to match, as he attempts to calm his on-the-go mind with a meditation practice. A lot of it is eye-roll worthy. Dan Harris doesn’t have a name or face that I recognize and he strikes me a bit of a media equivalent of a ‘tech bro.’ He seems to know that he’ll have a wildly skeptical audience and reluctantly admits that he meditates because it’s helpful to him. A lot of his story is removed from everyday reality since he’s connected to the household names of Peter Jennings and Diane Sawyer and attends fancy restaurant rendezvous with renowned meditation experts. This self-aware conflict with the meditation journey kept me entertained, but like all holiday binges, I wanted to know what happens and move on to the next thing. The books is a quick read and all the annoyances aside, his basic point to me: even if you’re the biggest jerk in the world, you may be a little less so if you stop and smell some roses.

With the added value of free time to attend yoga classes and wander winter time parks, this slowing down felt easy peasy and then life starts again and you’re pulled from a dream state of Shavasana tranquility to realize that 10% happiness improvement is sufficient for this cynic. And I didn’t even need a friend to pull some strings to get me into a fancy ass retreat in Marin County to realize that — but I also don’t have a book, yet.

This time of year, it’s incredibly easy to become self-reflective as the world sleeps longer in darkness and seemingly slows down (or you’re locked inside during snow days). Grandiose plans work their way into a sedated holiday mind and everything is anew. Little magic moments of that capture dull light, a striking early sunset, snow freeze time where I’m much more nostalgic and appreciative of the present.

During a speech to a crowd of strangers, I mentioned that I used to look up at the sky and point out the winter sunrise’s pink and oranges to her stoic sleepless face. I did not mention that 10-years later, in college, I would despise when my hippie friends pointed to ridiculous sunsets with these same painterly colors and rejoiced in the scene’s beauty (their proclamations really did sound ridiculous in my head). Obviously, I want to be happier, nicer, pleasant, but I don’t want to be stomped on like a trendy wimpy flower and taken advantage of — which is what “let’s meditate” says to me. It’s a trend that everywhere in (not) subtle packages for purchase, but the idea to chill out and breath, I’m digging it and not taking myself too seriously.