For Wilshire Baptist Church
We went to the movies for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic and saw “Dream Horse,” one of those British movies with quirky characters and a good story that gets critical acclaim from the few people who see it. It’s a true story about a small Welsh village where the people are just grinding along from day to day with not much happening to get excited about. That changes when a checker at the grocery store gets the idea to form a syndicate among the townspeople to buy a mare, breed it with a stallion that has racing blood, and raise a contender.
At the first meeting of the syndicate, a man with past experience raising racehorses tells the group there is little to no chance of their horse ever winning a race. “If you do join, don’t do it expecting to make money. Do it for the hwyl. That’s what this is all about.”
Hwyl — pronounced “hoo-eel” — is a Celtic word that simply translated means “fun.” But actually there’s much more to it than that. One dictionary defines it as “a stirring feeling of emotional motivation and energy.” Another goes further with “a stirring sensation, fervor, emotion, motivation and enthusiasm.” In other words — my words — it’s something that makes you jump out of bed in the morning and keeps you up late at night because it brings joy and meaning to life.
Hwyl can be hard to come by in this current age. There’s so much to be down about, whether real or suggested by media, social media and wherever you get your daily dose of negativity. And frankly, we’re often too busy to see the hwyl in anything we do because we’re fixated on making a living, having our stuff, taking care of our families, getting by.
It would be nice if our jobs were the source of hwyl, but that’s not always the case. A Pew Research Center report states that only 49% of American workers are very satisfied with their current job; 30% view their work as “just a job to get them by.” Income level can have an impact on satisfaction, but more money never guarantees hwyl.
On a broad scale I’ve generally always enjoyed my work; I chose a career in journalism and communications that suits my skills and aptitude, and that’s always a good start. I’m not sure there was ever a time when I went running out the door in the morning to go do it – unless of course I was running late. Work has been enjoyable and satisfying, but sometimes it has just been work. Now that I am spending more time writing about things that I truly want to write about, there are days when I do race to do it and have trouble letting go of it. On those days there is hwyl.
But as in the film, hwyl often comes outside of work and career. Sometimes work is what provides the financial means for that which brings you hwyl. Sometimes you have to go looking for hwyl wherever you can, and it may be in unexpected places. LeAnn and I enjoy our work, but we’ve found hwyl in turning our backyard into a colorful, ever-changing palette of color, no matter that we spend hours on some Saturday mornings pulling weeds and Bermuda out of the beds. We also get hwyl from sitting down to a salad made from our own lettuce and tomatoes. There’s something about “working the land” that is satisfying in an old world sort of way.
I think LeAnn experiences hwyl in preparing meals. She hasn’t told me that, but I see it in how she plans and prepares food for family, friends and total strangers. I’ll look up from my iPad, where I’m working on a story, and I’ll see her sitting cross-legged on the kitchen floor, thumbing through one of her recipe books. I know she’s getting ready to create something new.
Where else do I see hwyl around me? When social media isn’t tearing people down, it can illuminate sources of hwyl. Without naming names completely, I see it in David’s nature photography, Richard’s work with high schoolers, Kay’s and Louis’ community events, Pam’s care for hungry neighbors, George’s endless stream of songs, Tammy’s love for her customers at the café. I could go on, but those are just a few.
I suppose the real test of hwyl is if you still feel it even when you are at the verge of drowning in that which provides you with hwyl. I won’t give away the end of the movie, but while there is plenty of hwyl to go around as the story progresses, there also is some tragedy along the way. In the end, however, hwyl wins the day.