What Scandinavians have to teach us about mental health

I first came across the cute term “friluftsliv” (pronounced free-loofts-liv), during the onset of the pandemic. Like other millennials, I was lured by social media trends of banana bread and Bridgerton as a way of distraction — yet friluftsliv has been the only movement to have a lasting impact on me. Dissimilar to its Danish companion of “hygge,” which represents cozy comforts and has been commoditised with cups and kitsch candles — friluftsliv is no fad. In fact, it could be a long-term coping strategy for us with or without a lockdown. “The key thing to learn from the Scandinavians is that you just need to start doing it. This isn’t a commercial endeavour, you cannot buy friluftsliv,” British writer turned Norwegian local, David Nikel tells Harper’s BAZAAR.