Getting My Hygge On

                           

It’s hygge time! We have had our first snow, Thanksgiving is this week, cold is forecasted, and I am ready to hunker down and get cozy. Cozy is the closest word we have in English for the Danish concept of hygge, as I understand it. Interesting that we take a Danish noun and its best translation is an English adjective. To further bastardize the translation I will convert it to a verb. (Isn't that just the American way?)

I’ve hygged my whole life. I just didn’t know it was called that. It has felt so validating to have it … well validated. So what am I talking about?

I’ve always liked close cozy places. In college I lived in a converted linen closet on the 7th floor of Ford Hall at KSU. I loved it. I remember finding room for a Christmas tree and nesting in under my lofted bed to procrastinate studying. I remember fixing my supper in my tiny room on Sunday nights in my popcorn popper where I had figured out how to even make spaghetti and marinara sauce. Having been gifted a small electric water pot for my high school graduation, every day I would make tea or dissolve a cube of beef bullion in hot water for a warm flavorful beverage.

When I decided I better study, I would get all nested down with some pillows and my books and then think Oh, I should make a cup of tea. Tea in hand, I would be ready to open the book and then think I should light some incense! Up to light some incense. Back to the study pillows. Need a blanket, I would think. Eventually nestled in under the blanket, warm tea in my belly, senses calmed with calming aromas I would fall asleep.

This week I am heading north to colder weather to spend the holiday with family. We will enjoy some cooking and some coffee and a lot of chaos. When I get home I will still hygge but it will be more solitayr, like by drinking espresso, burning a frazier fir scented candle, wearing my hand knitted socks while I knit, write, or read and listening to my quiet pandora holiday station. My hygge will include gazing out a window at a sunset and walking on my own nature trail where I might see a deer, fox, or owl. I will be happy as a clam doing this day after day.

Hygge should be practiced broadly in my opinion. It is a practice in self-care and makes space for contemplation and nurturing friendships. We all can use a dose of that. Thank you, Danes.