ADHD and finding hygge
What this Scandinavian principle teaches us about getting through the harshest of times
You might have noticed a lag in my posting this cold January. It’s been snowy, icy, slushy, and below-zero temperatures here in the U.S. Midwest. I’ve been leaving home - and my oversized blanket hoodie - as little as possible.
My husband is an environmental engineer working to mitigate the global climate crisis. I’m in communications for a major nonprofit working to end cancer.
We are both fortunate enough to work from home, but I’ll admit that this privilege also presents a challenge: when all we see is the inside of our own four walls, it’s easy to lose sight of what we’re working to save.
This January, we’ve been experiencing the world primarily through the apps on our phones… and the news hasn’t been the greatest: terrorism, wildfires, wars, and rollbacks of human rights.
It’s easy to feel the darkness as a heavy blanket that makes one want to hibernate until it’s all over.
What if we did?
….
My husband went to Denmark last year and brought back more than a few brilliant ideas to help save humanity (along with some delicious butter cookies and stories of connecting with people from across Europe in extended evening gatherings in bars and restaurants). He said when the servers would come to clear your dishes, you only needed to say one word to be left alone to enjoy for a while: hygge.
For those who are unfamiliar, hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) is the concept of cozy culture. It’s a slowing down, a softening, a mindfulness practice, a way of enjoying the small pleasures in life. It’s tuning into the good, wherever it can be found.
Hygge is the time I’ve spent this month watching Harry Potter on repeat with my kids. It’s the warm tea I drink first thing in the mornings after dropping them off at school. It’s snuggling under the blanket my coworkers sent to me when my grandpa passed away. It’s my new skincare routine that makes this ADHDer actually enjoy a task I used to avoid like the plague. It’s laughing over FaceTime with my two best friends and planning trips with my family for when the weather gets nice again.
It’s lingering in a hug, reading to fall asleep, and, yes, even allowing myself not to write unless I feel inspired to.
SELF Magazine refers to hygge as “everything from ‘the art of creating intimacy,’ to ‘coziness of the soul,’ and even, ‘cocoa by candlelight.’”
So, what do we do when the world feels cold and dark? That’s when it’s time to nestle into our blanket hoodies and light a candle.
To quote Dumbledore (we’re really into HP in my household right now), “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
It’s up to us to turn on the light.
So, if the cold weather, short days, and current state of the world have got you down, let this fun fact awaken the hygge in you:
Every day from now until July, a little more light than the day before will beam from the sky.
There’s more than one way to save the planet, I think. Hygge is how I remember what we’re working to save.
I’ll leave the PFAS and greenhouse gas emissions to my husband to tackle. But maybe a little hygge can help humanity, too.
I loved this little post!! Hygge has been a word, teaching, practice I have loved for years... living in Canada we have that same winter climate instinct as the Danish and COVID sending us home allowed it to blossom even more during those years. Thanks for the reminder and your take!