Painting, Sewing and a Pub Quiz Online: A Content Life in Turkey
If I can see two or three small rituals, I feel more at ease.
Picture a couple named Dilys and Hugh, who live in Turkey. Mornings begin with a pot of tea. Afternoons belong to Dilys's paintbrushes and a sewing basket. On Thursday evenings, they sit at a screen with a drink and join a pub quiz hosted by friends who live elsewhere.
I read about a life shaped like this, from around 2020, when many people were home more than they planned. The word that came to my mind was content. Calm and settled. Content.
The ordinary things
What I notice is how small the pieces are. Painting. Sewing. A quiz that happens at the same time each week. None of these is an adventure. All of them are repeating.
I think repeating things matter more than we admit. A person can move across the world and still have a Thursday. The Thursday holds the week up.
The drink is the invitation
A shared drink is one of the oldest ways to say "sit with me". It might be tea in a glass, coffee, a beer, or a glass of wine on a screen. The drink itself matters less than the rule: we do this together, at this time.
In Turkey, I understand that sharing tea is a common way of welcoming someone. I have not lived that myself, so I will not say more. But I can see how a person who learns to sit and drink with neighbours may find the same ritual they had at home, in a new shape.
The old and the new together
There is a point here about not choosing. This couple kept something from before, the quiz with their friends, and added something new where they live. They did not give up one to have the other.
I think that is a calm way to move. You do not have to leave your old Thursday behind. You could carry it with you, and then put a second ritual beside it.
A small moment
Hugh pours the tea. Dilys holds up her canvas.
"Is the blue too much?"
"It is a very good blue," he says. "The quiz starts in ten minutes."
"Then I will finish this corner."
This is the sort of evening that does not sound like much. I suspect it is what many of us are really looking for.
What I take from it
When I think about moving, I try to picture a Tuesday, not a holiday. What fills the Tuesday afternoon? Who sits at the table? If I can see two or three small rituals, I feel more at ease. If I cannot, I know I have homework.
You could…
- Write down your three most repeating weekly habits and ask which could travel.
- Try a hobby you can do anywhere, and bring the supplies.
- Set a standing time with friends back home, by screen.
- Sit with a neighbour over a drink, and let the habit grow from there.
What small ritual would you carry with you wherever you live?
Tell us in the comments