7 Simple Swedish Habits for Health & Happiness :)

Sweden is frequently ranked as one of the best, if not the best, countries to live in, based on things like overall happiness, productivity, health and overall quality of life. Now, much of this is due to things that are bigger than just the individual. We have amazing paid parental

leave, free education among other things. And clean tap water. And the best pizza in the world. And yes, I’ve been to Italy. With that being said, it’s not the “perfect” country. There sure are problems here as well, just like there is everywhere else in the world. / I

do also realise that no place in the world is perfect or free of problems. Sweden isn’t perfect. Swedes aren’t perfectly happy. There are plenty of problems here too. But I’m not here to talk about the macro stuff. Let’s look at the individual – the habits and the rituals

– that I personally think contribute to some of those statistics. Because you guys are from all over the world, and I want you to feel inspired by the end of this conversation; to feel like you can apply these things to your own life, no matter where you live.

Först tänkte jag att det här vore den perfekta videon att göra på svenska, för jag har ju velat göra en video på svenska så länge, men alltså det känns så

konstigt, jag vet inte varför, så vi kör på engelska, men där fick ni en liten snutt på svenska

iallafall. Some background about me in case you’re new: I’m Swedish. Born here. Raised here. Have lived in Stockholm for almost my entire life. Lived in the US for two years. Productivity Sweden ranks as one of the most productive countries in the world. As for how productivity is being

defined and measured in this context, I can leave a link to an article for you for further reading if you’re interested. It’s kind of a long article, one that I’m not personally super interested in, although I am interested in the key takeaways, so I just used Shortform’s AI

tool to quickly summarize it. Oh you didn’t know? Yeah, you can do that and a lot more with Shortform, our sponsor for today’s video! If you’re not familiar, Shortform offers book summaries but on steroids, because you can do more than simply look up book summaries. As I mentioned,

you can use their AI tool to quickly generate high-quality summaries of articles, emails, blogs and even YouTube videos. Now, personally, I enjoy reading entire books, from beginning to end, most of the time. However, I don’t really like focusing on taking notes while reading and/or thinking too hard about

what the key points are. And so once I’ve finished reading a book, I like going to Shortform to sort of get a comprehensive overview of what I’ve read. And that way, I also remember it better. I also like doing that because within Shortform, when you go look up

a book, within the summary, they add insights to certain parts. And this is genuinely one of my favorite features. So for example, since we’re on the topic of productivity, I recently read Feel good productivity by Ali Abdaal, and then I went to look it up on Shortform. And

here, let’s see, so, “Abdaal’s final type of burnout, mismatch, happens when your work doesn’t line up with your interests and principles.” And then Shortform has added a little insight, I’ll just read the first sentence, “Abdaal’s advice to match what you do with what you want closely resembles the

concept of ikigai, a Japanese word that roughly translates to “life’s purpose”. Isn’t that so cool? This is what I mean when I say it’s more than just a book summary platform, like, you’re literally learning more things and being introduced to new concepts and ideas too. The final reason

for why I really like Shortform I’d like to highlight here, even though there’s more and you should really check it out yourself, is that you can simply use it for inspiration. So sometimes, I’ll be like, yeah, I want to read a book on “communication”. I can simply go

to Shortform, pick the category, and many of the most popular books will pop up. And so I may randomly pick one, start reading the summary, and then I’ll kind of get an idea of what the book is about and if I think I will enjoy it, and if

I do, I’ll go and buy the book. Motion Motion, which must come from the word MOTION, means “regular physical activity to maintain your health and bodily functions”. Basically, staying physically active, but it doesn’t need to be high-intensity like lifting weights at the gym. But rather, even low intensity

things like walking or doing work in the garden counts as motion. You guys know that I love walking; Exploring on foot is how I make sense of things. I want to feel the air and to smell the different places. I’ll walk anywhere that I can walk to, UNLESS

it’s too humid outside because by the time I get to my destination my hair will be an absolute mess, and if my hair is a mess, I’ll be in a bad mood. And I’d rather have good hair. Anyway, that is one of the things that was a bit

of a culture shock when I lived in LA in the US. There weren’t nearly as many people on the streets as there were in cars; not even in popular places like Rodeo Drive. I come to think of one instance in particular that truly shocked me. I was living

near campus at UCLA, and I wanted to go to Beverly Hills, and so I thought “I’ll just walk there.” It was going to be about an hour and a half walk. And look, on one hand, that walk was so lovely. Obviously you have the amazing LA weather, the

beautiful palm trees. On the other hand, I barely saw any other people on that entire walk. The streets were so empty. The roads were not, however. There were tons of cars, people were driving so it’s not like the city was empty, but the streets were so empty. Cars

were flying by, but the streets were empty, even in popular areas. That surprised me about LA. I remember wondering if I was doing something wrong or if people would think I’m being weird or if I was lost. Anyway, let’s not make this conversation about LA vs Stockholm, I

just think it’s interesting. Point is, if you want to embrace some of that Swedish culture, and if your city allows it, walk more! Get all the motion that you can get! Lagom The Swedish concept of Lagom (pronounced “lah-gom”) roughly translates to “not too little, not too much, just

right. There’s actually a couple of books on this concept, one is called “Lagom” and it’s written by Linnea Dunne. I read it recently and it was quite fun. I cannot tell you how often I’ll speak to an English speaking person, and they’ll ask me a question or something

and I’ll want to find a word to say “lagom”, but it feels weird to say “not too little, not too much” because who says that? Like when someone asks how much milk you want in your coffee, or how far away the restaurant is that we’re about to walk

to, or how much cheese you’d like on your pasta. I think it’s a cozy word too. Like being lagom tired is nice, you know? Like, you’re a little bit tired where you’re starting to feel a bit slower and cozy, but you still have enough energy to watch a

movie and eat a snack and get cozy. I want my home to be lagom bright. I want a lagom amount of carpets. I want my closet to be lagom big. I want to spend a lagom amount of money on my next trip. Within a satisfactory range. Fika Did

you know that Swedes are in the top three of the biggest coffee consumers in the world? Personally, I’m not at all a genuine coffee drinker – I’ll have about 25% espresso and milk for the rest. But that’s besides the point. Fika is basically when you take a break

from doing, by having a small bite, usually something sweet like a piece of cake and a coffee. Now you might listen to this and think “so… a coffee break?”. Yeah but not really no. It’s more than a coffee break. It’s not even about the coffee. It’s about taking

a moment, or an hour, or longer, to pause, to relax and to connect – with yourself, your loved ones, colleagues or a book. Fika is oftentimes how we socialize here. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask someone out on a fika, or to meet up a friend that you haven’t

seen in a long time over some fika, or sometimes even going for a fika pause while you’re at work. Fika is a love language all swedes understand. It’s about unplugging, disconnecting, being present. And coffee. I mean, it’s about coffee too. We don’t wear shoes inside. Can we please,

once and for all, discuss the whole wearing-your-shoes inside? Niksen (the art of doing nothing) I actually recently learned that there’s a Danish concept, or word for this. “Niksen Is the Dutch Lifestyle Concept of Doing Nothing”. Here’s what this article says that I found: “Practicing niksen could be as

simple as just hanging around, looking at your surroundings or listening to music — “as long as it’s without purpose,” she says, and not done in order to achieve something or be productive.” Source Think “simply sitting in a chair or looking out of the window.”. Whereas mindfulness is about

being present in the moment, niksen is more about carving out time to just be, even letting your mind wander rather than focusing on the details of an action. I love this. This is one of my new favorite words, and it feels very scandi. Traditions When I think of

Sweden, I think of a place where people find a reason to celebrate life. There are lots of traditions and holidays. We have midsummer for example, s a celebration of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, but it is also a celebration of life and love. And

then we have all the days where we celebrate different foods and pastries, like the day of the cinnamon bun, which is when people will meet up with a friend and stand in long lines at cafés to get hold of some cinnamon buns, and many of the work offices

will offer cinnamon buns to their employees. Similarly, we have the day of the semla. We have kräftskiva, crayfish party, which is a party each year where we at lots of crayfish. Valborg. There’s a long list of celebrations that take place, and I love that. I think traditions creates

togetherness. And I think no matter where you are in the world, you can absolutely find reasons to celebrate life, and I think Swedes prove that it can be something small, simple, and seemingly silly, like cinnamon buns.