When you find yourself floundering along reading and writing in a directionless manner for some time, the long-awaited light-bulb moment is further intensified. This was me a few days ago. My assumption that everyone understood, or at least had heard of the term ‘hygge’ and was on their own hygge journey in some way, shape or form like I was. How wrong was I? I found that not everyone is addicted to hygge the way that I am.
Over the past twelve months, increasingly in the past month alone, I have embraced all things hygge and incorporated many small actions on a daily basis to deepen my sense of hygge. But what is hygge? You might ask.
There isn’t just one, but many meanings and definitions for the term hygge as it does not directly translate. First and foremost, it is a feeling found within, and it may come in many forms. For some it may feel like a sense of ‘cozy’ others it may feel like ‘content’, but to me, it is a feeling of warmth spreading throughout my soul. A calmness accessed only when escaping the rapid-fire pace of daily working mum life. Hygge sits alongside other concepts such as Lagom, Friluftsliv, Fika, Lykke, Sisu and Petta Reddast. All of these originating from the Nordics, an area that I have become increasingly intrigued by.
I can remember the episode of The Block back in 2017 when I first heard Neil Whitaker mention the term ‘hygge’ to describe one of the contestant’s spaces. This led me toward my love of simplicity and the sought after ‘Scandi’ décor. But it wasn’t until I found The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking that I found myself absolutely fascinated and hooked by the concept of Hygge.
I’ve joined plenty of Hygge Facebook pages and one recurrent question I’ve read is ‘I live… (insert any hot location) how do I hygge?’ and that’s just the thing? There is no one right or wrong way to ‘hygge’ though I feel it is fully achievable in any climate, any location, in any household and with any budget to incorporate and achieve a sense hygge. Like with anything else new to you, a certain amount of open mindedness and self-reflection is required to reap the full benefits.
Over the coming blog posts I will explore further into my personal experiences with hygge and my deepening love of the Nordics, from books to food to tv viewing and many other candlelit moments in between, I’ll cover it all. And don't forget the main focus of these blogs will be Hygge in Australia.
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