Everyday Life

Everyday life is a routine, consists of the repetition of daily chores and unique activities which are carried out occasionally (Lefebvre, as cited in Highmore, 2002, p. 128). Within the everyday life, there are moments “of intense experience” (p. 115) pass in a blink which may awaken us from the everyday, and thus we may start to criticize our daily life. There is a moment which makes me suddenly realize the impact of modernity and the unwillingness to change in my inner self.
I chose to represent the moment by copying a few sentences from my diary which was written a couple years ago. Diary is a tool used to express feelings and opinions without distortion. Hence, it is able to reflect life experience and personal thoughts sincerely and genuinely. I wrote it using my native language, so I tried to translate it:
I was on the bus heading to the town. I used to take this bus frequently from my dormitory accommodation previously until I went back to my hometown and not visiting this city for the past three months. Looking out of the windows, I looked at the scenery on the streets and surprisingly I felt strange. The buildings and landscapes in the town changed rapidly at a speed that I could not recognize them anymore. What made this more embarrassing is that all of these have changed in merely three months’ time. I was panicked when I did not even know where to get off as the bus stop has been replaced by the construction of a skyscraper.
It was the moment when I was shocked by the rapid change in a modern city. Unbelievably, I felt nervous and depressed in a city where I should be familiar with. After getting off the bus (I have to confirm the route with the driver) and on the way walking to my destination, I thought about the i...

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...m the moment described, I learn to get rid of materialism and consumerism practiced in my everyday life before. A meaningful life should be valued by the psychological satisfaction which could not be purchased by money. Buying a branded bag would never satisfy us more than helping the needy. The latter provides connection between individuals and prevents critical isolation. I start to make new friends and enlarge my social circle; in the meantime I try to get back to the nature instead of wandering in the bustling city. I learn to appreciate the interaction with other people and cherish the God’s creation, not the humans’. That moment has awakened me up from everyday life before, asked me to think deeply and made me practice a different everyday life now.

Works Cited

Highmore, B. (2002). Chapter 7: Henri Lefebvre’s dialectics of everyday life. London: Routledge.