An antidote to stress

A week ago, we christened our daughter. We had just left for the church with not much extra time to spare when I realized that we had forgotten an important detail – The christening gown… After the child, this is perhaps the second most important thing for the ceremony, so forgetting it at home is quite the achievement. In a case like this, you better make sure that you left too early because doing an unplanned detour back home to pick something up costs a lot of time that you do not have. At least that is the obvious solution; never leave at the last minute but instead wait a while at the destination. That will give you the margin you need. But i think there is another way that is even more important, at least for me.

Diary, HabitsRikard ÖqvistAugust 15, 2024stress, preparation, habits, efficiencyComment

Vacation crescendo

The usual pattern again. Everyone wants to deliver important projects before the vacation and the final weeks up until the last Friday feels like a metronome that speeds up exponentially. Let us also throw a couple of urgent surprise problems that require you to drop everything and hyper-focus without interruption for 8 hours straight. No, we are not saturated enough, we also need sick kids that must go to the emergency room, dogs with wounds, and a computer that blows itself up in the middle of an important delivery. Then I went outdoors, the rain started pouring and I inhaled a mosquito and almost puked. What a wonderful day!

Habits, Family, Parenting, DiaryRikard ÖqvistJune 21, 2024preparation, parenting, computers, mindfulness, focusComment

Luck favors the prepared

I was interrupted mid-sentence by a literal bloodbath outside my window. A sea eagle struck its prey, a smaller sea bird. At first, I couldn’t even tell what it had caught because there was too much blood. I was in the middle of a Teams meeting and I completely lost my tongue. Sea eagles are mighty creatures of the sky, and it is difficult not to be in awe when you see them, with their wingspan of up to 240 cm. This could have been one of those moments when you wish that you had a DSLR with a telephoto lens mounted. But instead, I managed to snap the best picture I have ever taken.

PhotographyRikard ÖqvistMay 8, 2023nature, photography, preparationComment

Be prepared

This weekend I finally managed to photograph an Otter. Actually, I even got three (1) of them in a single shot/video! I have been trying to snap a picture of one for over a year, but they have always eluded me until now. I have usually seen them from a window, and then I have rushed to grab my camera and when I got back it was nowhere to be seen. We are talking about a time window of about 30-60 seconds here. I can honestly say that I am hooked permanently now on nature photography. It is so rewarding, and when you live in a place like we do, it is all but mandatory to get a tele lens and learn photography. My wife told me that there are only around 2000 Otters in the whole of Sweden. They are super rare. That means that I have just documented a significant part of the entire Swedish Otter population. They are so rare that you are supposed to report sightings in Sweden (which I just did).

Art, Diary, PhotographyRikard ÖqvistJanuary 24, 2022photography, focus, preparation, productivityComment

Build your Ark before the storm

We had a storm last week; the worst one I can remember. I had read the forecast and knew that it was about to rain a lot, but I did not notice the wind prediction. I was just expecting a very wet day. Monday came, it was mostly business as usual. However, as I was working, I heard a noise from outside. It was my little façade flagpole that snapped and was thrown to the ground by the wind. Shortly thereafter the power was cut. I realized that I need to go and get my son from kindergarten ASAP, because when darkness falls it could turn ugly. When I stepped outdoors a gust of wind threw my off my feet. The winds were approaching 30 m/s. I got in my car and drove off but I was quickly stopped by a fallen tree blocking the road. And I could see more fallen trees behind it. We were isolated.

Philosophy, HabitsRikard ÖqvistNovember 7, 2020storm, neighbors, community, ark, countrylife, chainsaw, prepper, preparation, relationshipComment