A Guide: The Practice of Finding Meaning in the Mundane
Step 1: find a puddle.
Next time it rains, make a conscious effort to walk through that rain. Or wait until it stops and find a puddle. I want you to step in it. Where does it transport you to? If you discover nothing but a satisfying splash and a few murky stones, try again (maybe even with a different puddle, if you must). At the bottom of your puddle, no matter how deep it is, you are in search of a nostalgic journey. Childhood parks, family adventures, the smell of stables, walks home from school. Or maybe you find nothing but a reflection - a face longing for a feeling of nostalgia. At first glance, a puddle is nothing but a puddle. However, behind a satisfying splash you can unveil thoughts about identity, desire and memory hidden at the bottom of that hole or ditch in the pavement. This is what it means to find meaning in the mundane. You need to want to find meaning.
Step 2: know your simple pleasures .
Ask yourself, what is it in your everyday life that makes you stop and look? What gives you a moment of joy or satisfaction? Maybe it is enjoying a silky cup of tea or syrupy coffee as you watch the sunset. Maybe it is the moment you sit down to eat dinner with your family or house mates with a sigh of relief as you indulge at the end of a busy day. One of my simple pleasures is wandering aimlessly around a bookshop. As a literature student, I am sure that is of no surprise. Today I spent an hour admiring the pretty editions of the classics in their burgundy and navy jackets with gold lettering printed on the spine. My eyes grazed books I have all heard of, but have never gotten around to reading. I transported myself to different countries via the travel section, and different galaxies through the sci-fi shelves. The smell of fresh books followed me up the stairs and my fingertips ran across the smooth, crisp edges of a glossy paperback. Even if you’re not a writer, try and write about your simple pleasures to really get to the core of what you love and why. Immerse yourself in the mundane with all of your senses and turn the ordinary into a luxury.
Step 3: use social media tactically.
To find meaning in the mundane, do not view social media as a hindrance. Yes, many times before I have written about ‘living through the moment and not through a screen’ (see: ‘Detoxing on the Dunes’), but since creating a healthy relationship with social media (see ‘It Loves Me, It Loves me Not’) I have learnt to use it as a tool for creating and maintaining healthy habits. Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest can all enhance the beauty of everyday life. One account in particular makes mundane moments look like cinematic masterpieces. Jaime Sharp on TikTok (@jmesharp) films food clips and daily walks, but the creation of his that made me tap the follow button was a video captioned ‘the days go by, all around the same table’.
He portrays the simple, often taken for granted moments around a dining table as ones we should not take for granted. Shots of a silhouette eating breakfast in the foreground of a large open window in his London apartment, flowers purposely poised on his wooden dining table. A heart drawn in the fog on the glass and the inhalation of cigarette smoke as he sits on the ledge. Visits from friends and home cooked meals. These are all snippets of everyday life we can recognise yet, by seeing the mundane through the lens of a photographer or a fanciful TikTok, we recognise it as art.
Such creative appreciations of the mundane should be transferred into our own everyday lives to recognise the simplicity we are surrounded by as much more than simple. Ask yourself, how can you actively portray the mundane as more than mundane? Take photos of your daily walk and tell the world of Instagram all about it. Create a Pinterest board for your own pictures of picnics and date nights, instead of romanticizing lives that aren’t yours. Perceive your reality with the same value you give to the expression of mundane moments online.
Step 4: have a main character complex.
With TikTok and Pinterest shining a light on our unhealthy bagel and decor obsessions, the normalisation of glamorizing such simple things is a trend I can support. With glorifying life comes what I call a main character complex (reminder: you ARE the main character, whether you believe it or not. Turn it into a morning and nightly affirmation if you have to). But why has it taken TikTok (specifically that Lana Del Rey sound (Mariners Apartment Complex)) to make us realise we are all the protagonists of our own stories? It is as though we have been re-liberated into knowing it is okay to sing and dance around our bedrooms, gripping a can of hairspray like a microphone. Perhaps that is what is needed - a liberation. A genuine belief that you are not being judged, nor should it matter if you are. To find meaning in the mundane is to learn to love those moments which have become all too familiar and boring. Instead of viewing laundry as a chore, look forward to the soft feeling and smell of fresh bed sheets. Buy the ingredients for a fancy meal next time you do the weekly food shop and treat yourself to dinner. Alternatively, you could mix up your routine and schedule to make the ordinary seem less mundane. For example, wake up at sunrise and watch the sky turn from pink to blue. Turn every Monday into pancake day. Go for a walk down a path that has always tickled your curiosity. Film these moments, edit them into a movie, post them for your followers to see and show the world that you’re happy to be alive. *
Step 5: love your surroundings.
In order to find meaning in the mundane, I recommend learning to appreciate where you are instead of constantly wishing for an escape. Michel de Certeau’s chapter ‘Walking in the City’ perfectly captures how I felt as a tourist in New York. He encapsulates the city through a series of metaphors: “a wave of vertices”, “the urban island”, a “stage of concrete, steel and glass”. Certeau, for me, captures the poetics of a location and presents it as art (using the art of language). Where you are located is full of breathing space for inspiration and creation to blossom. Take advantage of that. Walk more and see if you can consume something you have always noticed, but have never really paid attention to. See beyond the telephone box, and dream up the conversations that have happened within it. Make up a fictional story for the local greasy-spoon cafe. Draw a picture that defines how bored you are of the same houses, paths and trees around you. Allow boredom to inspire you. Before you get consumed by dreaming of where you would rather be, appreciate where you currently are and master the art of walking in your own city (or town, village, state, wherever).
Step 6: simply take a deep breath.
This morning I went to my local park to read. I really wanted to sit on the grass, but it was still wet with dew. I wanted to lay in the field and feel leaves intertwine with my hair, and bugs tickle my arm. Instead I sat at a bench, then a little boy came and sat with me. He was maybe five years old, but very articulate for a person so tiny. He kicked off his shoes and peeled off his socks. When his mum asked what he was doing, he said he “just wanted to run free” and so off he went. His legs carried him as he ran down the hill and through the field, feeling those shards of damp grass in between his toes. Maybe to find meaning in the mundane, we all need to take a step back and let ourselves go a bit. To not worry about little things like wet grass and wet feet. Take a deep breath and run free.
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*More main character shit:
Run in the rain
Listen to music at full volume and sing your heart out
Drive without a destination in mind
Buy yourself or a friend flowers and fresh fruit
Dye your hair, get a piercing, get a tattoo
Get out of bed and DANCE
Don’t be scared to talk to strangers
Tell someone you find them attractive
Randomly call a friend and tell the you love/miss them
Talk openly and honestly about your passions
Swim in the sea
Late night baking
Fruit picking
Enjoy alone time - grab a coffee, have a picnic, go for a walk
