Hygge

  Hygge. Everyone seems to be blogging and posting on Pinterest about it lately. I love the concept: coziness, the focus on family and friends and togetherness, building relationships and enjoying a slower pace of life appreciating the small things. Of course, because it originated with Danish people, it’s pretty heavy on the wool socks, hot drinks, and cuddling under blankets. I live in the desert, where we are more about iced everything, tank tops, and air conditioning. So I search Pinterest a lot for things like “how to hygge in the summer” and variations of the same, finding really cute pictures of outdoor picnics clearly taken elsewhere because here, no one goes outside during the summer months unless they are walking between their car and a building with the aforementioned air conditioning.
  But the more I read about it, the more I’ve come to realize that we really do practice a lot of the concepts in our home. We play games as a family, and my husband has a few work friends over pretty regularly for a game night. Our daughter still doesn’t really get screen time, but she loves to read and be read to. We snuggle a LOT. It’s the best. And I’ve been making an effort to actually light the pretty candles we have, to wear something cozy and comfy when I spend time at home with my daughter, to savor the ritual lately of boiling the water for my tea rather than just use the keurig, making a whole pot to pour over ice and enjoy throughout the afternoon. (I can not overemphasize how HOT it is here right now).
  And having the mindset has really helped: being focused on the moment and enjoying the simple things had lead to enjoying them more, and a sense of joy and how blessed I truly am. I feel closer to my family. I feel more settled and grateful for what my life is right now. I’m in a better state than I was even just a week ago; we’ve been dealing with some loss and grief lately and this focus and the results have been very therapeutic. Am I still sad? Of course. And I’ll keep being sad for a long time. But does it help to deliberately choose to do and eat and spend time with activities and people that I enjoy and derive a deep joy from? Yeah, I have found that duh, it really helps. So I’m going to keep on practicing this hygge thing.