Soo, funny backstory on this. My freshman year of college. By that sentence, you already know this should be good .. anyways. Marquette's student engagement Instagram page had posted about needing models for their new fall apparel that had just arrived in the spirit shop. So, being the eager freshman I was, I DMed the account, and a week later I was getting my picture taken in front of the Church of Jesu.
Later that month, this picture was the cover of the article, "How to Hygge at Marquette." This is when I first became introduced to this term. Since then, it has been one of my favorite descriptors to portray my feelings of happiness. The cool breeze on a fall morning, a movie with popcorn, a good book with a cup of tea. Hygge is the feeling that these moments bring.This term suggests that we look at the little things in life as the best things.
I think one of the most beautiful things that we can see in hygge is that it promotes an anti-anxiety environment for living and spending time with close friends and loved ones. It almost forces us to slow down, and not get so caught up in the go go go of life. In my last article, I talked about this big season of waiting that we are all experiencing, but I think it is such a beautiful thing to know that hygge lives off of this slowness in the world that we are all living in.
Hygge also gives the invitation to a simpler life. To make a list of everything that is serving you and anything that is not, and ridding of those things that are not. I just recently watched the documentary Social Dilemma (if you haven't, drop everything and watch it right now), and one of its lasting points that it made was to get rid of and declutter anything that is not creating happiness in your life. This is what hygge is telling us to do, as well.
Hygge also shifts our perspective to the things that are really, truly important to us. Those feel-good moments, the people you could sit in silence with, and the days that you wish you could relive, over and over. When we remove the things that we really don't value, we can prioritize the things that truly fulfill us.
There is such a freeing sense of contentment that comes along with hygge. Accepting what we cannot change, and doing the best we can, while being the best version of ourselves we can be. We have to shift our lives a little bit to fill the hole inside of us, to find peace of heart and mind.
There is something about the simplicity of things, and life itself. Once you start making an effort to find JOY in those little moments of life, your life will start to feel different; in all the best ways.
