Snow: A Meditation on the Hygge Mindset
Before moving to the deep northern woods of Michigan, I had seen snow only twice in my forty-three years. Being a South Florida Native does not afford many opportunities to experience cold weather, let alone snow. Both snow encounters happened outside of Florida. The first time I was seven, we were in Detroit for my cousin's wedding. I awoke to a white wonderland outside in my aunt's backyard. The second time I was twenty-one and visiting my father in Dallas for New Year's, a rare ice storm blew through. The closest I got to snow in Boynton Beach, Florida, my hometown, was a hard freeze when I was eight. Our water heater broke, spewing water out of the vent on our roof creating dazzling icicles hanging from our gutters.
He laughed when I told my husband I wanted to move to Northern Michigan. He had fled cold upstate New York as soon as he turned eighteen. He knew snow, and when he tried to think about me in the snow, it was nearly an impossible thought to think. I was the gal who loved August in Florida. However, my love affair with Florida was beginning to sour with the one hundred and ten heat indexes, the endless traffic, the ever-looming hurricanes, and the seeming deterioration of the kindness and compassion of its people. I had found a new love, the calm, green, and quiet of the northern woods, during my summers teaching at Interlochen Center for the Arts.
A little snow seemed hardly a reason to toss my dream of moving north.
It turns out I love snow. I marvel at the colors of fall and swoon at spring flowers, but I love the quiet beauty of winter and the snow. Winter gives pause in a hectic world, forcing you to slow down and say "no" to things you could not in a climate with no barriers like snow. I am permitted to stay in my PJ's and snuggle under a cozy quilt when the snow blows. I can stay home because the roads are bad. I enjoy watching the swirly white world outside my window as much as gazing at the ocean.
It all comes down to the Danish word hygge. Translated to English, it loosely means "coziness," but the word means more than that. Hygge is a philosophy of living in a cold climate. It is a way of looking at life where you find the positive in your current situation and a means to live with it rather than against it. There is a reason these countries are consistently rated as the happiest and have the highest quality of living, though they experience long winters and long periods of darkness in the winter. I am not talking about adopting toxic positivity but finding the meaning and merit under challenging moments and striking a balance. I have learned from my friends in these Nordic countries that there is no "bad" weather, only bad clothing choices. It is true. If you dress correctly, the cold is nothing to fear. You acclimate to the cold quickly. Now, thirty-five degrees is downright balmy. I do not even feel "cold" until around eighteen degrees. Even driving in the snow is not as bad as most northern people made me believe if you practice and follow instructions.
I went into this new adventure, embracing the spirit of Hygge. Furthermore, to the shock and awe of my family and friends, I acclimated and thrived in the snow. The Hygge mindset is not only for winter and the snow but is an idea we might all benefit from year-round.