I started last week with sharing some goals in regards to my mental health. This week I want to talk about the idea of slowing down. Which for me is a seriously challenging one.
That being said the slow moments are always my favorite. I was recently introduced to the Danish concept of hygge. One of my dearest friends has started a hygge night with her family. It is a slow family night without technology, and the key to it all is cozy lighting, family activities, and things that promote togetherness.
Hyyge itself is hard to explain, but not so hard to grasp. It’s s feeling…
I am currently reading this book to learn more about hygge. But I think we all have a little hygge inside of us. It’s just a matter of tapping into it. in Denmark is dark and rainy for so much of their year much like it is here in the Pacific Northwest, so I’m finding the book completely inspiring.
In an incredibly busy season where the rat race seems to inhabit us all, this is the perfect time for me to be focused on slowing down and enjoying the moment. of course there’s the idea of reducing technology, which is such a challenge, but always so worth it. There’s also the idea of not filing my schedule.
In years passed during the holiday season I have sat down with a local kids community calendar and written down everything under the sun we might possibly do. My thinking was that if I did this we could pick and choose and not feel like we missed out on anything that we had hoped to do.
Instead the list made me feel like I missed out on everything that we couldn’t make it to, or we raced around to do it all.
This year we changed our approach and just thought back to years past and wrote down events that we thought were “cannot miss” type of events. We selected the ones that celebrated our hometown, have been the most special to us all along, and provided a homie and less stress kind of environment. This means that grand events like the “Polar Express yrain ride” or Disney on Ice just didn’t make the cut. But it also meanm that our favorite local tree lighting, Marionette puppet show, and driving around to see Christmas lights did. And my spirit is relieved.
We also connected with friends to compare notes so that some of the fun things we could share within our friend Community as well as with family.
I’ll be diving more into this concept of hygge, one of the things I’ve already tried is rearranging my living room to be more cozy and provide cozier lighting. (You can always see more of these types of things on my Instagram.)
How do you approach the holiday season? Calendaring? Creatting cozy environments in your home? I’d love to hear more about what you do too!
Don’t miss checking out Whitney Coudray Photography.
Never knew a photographer could provide hygge while taking family photographs, mind you there are 6 of us and four of us are under 6!
