Saudade

A word in Portuguese that doesn't have a clean English translation, “saudade”.

It's often described as a kind of longing, for a person, a place, a time, but that's only part of it. Saudade isn't quite sadness. It's closer to a bittersweet fondness, an ache that comes from having loved something deeply enough that its absence still means something. The Portuguese don't try to fix the feeling or rush past it. They let it exist, sometimes even in music — fado, an entire genre is built around it.

There's something worth borrowing here, even outside Portugal. So much of modern life teaches us to push past discomfort, distract from it, optimize it away. Saudade suggests a different approach: you can feel the ache of missing something, an old version of yourself, a relationship, a season of life, without needing to solve it immediately. You can just sit with it, honestly, and let it be part of the story rather than a problem to fix.

This week, if something bittersweet comes up for you, try not rushing past it. Just notice it. That's saudade. It's allowed.