If someone asked me to tell only one thing I learned from Denmark and that I especially treasure, I would have to tell that person about Mads…

*Giggles*

No, if I was confined to sharing only one thing about my dreamland, it would have to be the concept of “hygge”. I have been thinking about how to present it here, and for some reason, I feel totally uncomfortable.

For any Danish reader, this will look like the ultimate paradox. .. Feeling uncomfortable talking about “hygge”, what a joke!

But for some reason, although I ache to talk about it, as a non-Dane, I don’t feel worthy of spreading my little knowledge of “hygge”.

“Hygge” isn’t something Danes invented. Anyone can practice it (and should) at any time, and in any place. But we, North American fellows, usually get hygge-style only around Christmas and special occasions. Hygge, (yeah, f*** the quotation marks from this point on, hihihihi) to make it really really simple, is the art of taking everything stressful lingering in your life, rolling it into a big bad stressball, and throwing it out of the window to enjoy the present moment.

The closest translation would probably be “cozy”, but “cozy” isn’t nearly cozy enough to represent hygge. Cozy would be the pale and fragile cousin of hygge if words had real life families. And I’d want to be best friends with Hygge! Because Hygge is cool, and so Danish!! Maybe I’d even marry Hygge… Nah… Hygge would probably marry some word like Lullaby (my all-time favorite English word)
Ok, going astray here!

Hygge is all about being with people you love, lighting candles, pouring a glass of good wine, dimming the light, cuddling on the couch with a warm blanket… Anything that takes away all forms of stress or worry. And that even includes good stress… Getting frantic after seeing my favorite hockey player score in the most amazing way sure would take bad thoughts and worries out of my mind, but in noooo way would it be hygge.

As I said, North Americans make room for a little hygge at the end of the year when Christmas is knocking on our doors… But everyday life is a whole other story. Most people look like headless chicken, running from home to work and from work to home… Running to go grocery shopping, running to get the kids to their soccer game or their dance class… Running away from hygge and wondering why we aren’t the happiest people on the planet.