Susanna Heiskanen - Nordic Lifestyle: Embrace Slow Living, Cultivate Happiness and Know When to Take Off Your Shoes

NORDIC LIFESTYLE

Embrace slow living, cultivate happiness and know when to take off your shoes

SUSANNA HEISKANEN

Founder of The Nordic Mum

Introduction

When people ask me where Im from, I always say Im from Finland, even though I live in Australia. I moved to the UK when I was 23 and then to Australia for work when I was 32. I have maintained my passport, citizenship and connections to Finland ever since I first left for London in 1999. Later, when my kids came, I embraced my identity as a Nordic mum, because I wanted my kids to know the Finnish part of their heritage.

In 2018, I started my website and podcast The Nordic Mum as I wanted to understand what we could do to embrace the Nordic lifestyle more. I used the podcasts to learn more about Nordicness and share it with the people around me. Then when I started researching this book, I looked at my own life and how I still draw from my youth in Finland.

As I explored my heritage by talking about Nordic lifestyle and the people I interviewed on my podcast and writing about it on my blog, I noticed that the content included themes such as sustainability, hygge , nature, minimalism and more. I was curious to hear how those people I interviewed saw their culture if they were no longer living in their home country and how they were able to maintain their connection with their Nordic roots. I thought about what I could learn from it. I also talked to expatriates living in the Nordic countries and asked how they found life there.

I wanted to understand the benefits of nature in helping us disconnect and how to live a more minimal Nordic life. How do people in the Nordics manage to spend so much time in pure clean unspoiled nature? Why is nature so important to the Nordic lifestyle? How could I integrate that into my own life?

The slow life that the Nordics still enjoy has not been spoiled as the world has become busier and this was something I wanted to explore and make available to all Nordic lifestyle lovers. I admire how Nordic people have been able to sustain the important things in life.

Sustainability is an important cornerstone concept for a good Nordic lifestyle. Many innovations particularly around sustainability come from the Nordic countries. Showing how we can make a difference with our behaviour and actions as well as being eco-friendly is expected from everybody in Nordic society.

Since going deeper into these concepts on the podcast, I wanted to ensure that this book would help you honour and embrace Nordic life wherever you are. My aim with Nordic Lifestyle: Embrace Slow Living, Cultivate Happiness and Know When to Take Off Your Shoes is to share the life of my upbringing with people who want to connect with Nordic culture and heritage, as well as those who are curious about the differences between Nordic countries.

In this book, I will talk more about the lifestyle and what it means to come from the Nordics and how you can find Nordicness where ever you are. If you want to learn more about Nordic lifestyle, heritage and culture, then this book is for you.

Nordic Lifestyle: Embrace Slow Living, Cultivate Happiness and Know When to Take Off Your Shoes is not about Nordic design, or interior styling the Nordic way. There are other books that you can read on those subjects. Its not a country guide either though I have insights on all Nordic countries. Its also not a cookbook, although I have included some recipes that we use in my house on a regular basis to keep us connected to our Finnish roots. This book is more of glimpse into the life of everyday Nordic people to show you what you can learn from them and what you could implement in your own life.

I hope Nordic Lifestyle makes you want to learn more about the Nordic countries. If you do, I have included some resources in the back of this book that will help you to find your inner Nordic.

I would like to thank the amazing people I have had the good fortune of interviewing on my podcast The Nordic Mum. Their insights into their cultures and countries have helped me keep this book factual and understand other parts of the Nordics better.

If you want to learn more about my own Nordic lifestyle, you can join my email list and get to know me better at www.thenordicmum.com . I promise not to spam you, but instead keep you company like a good friend. You can also find and follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook for some more Nordic lifestyle inspiration.

Without further delay, lets take off our shoes and enter into this cosy Nordic cabin where a hot drink and a good book are waiting for us by the fire.

Lets learn how the Nordics live and why Nordicness could be the next best thing for you...

PART ONE

DEFINING NORDIC

What does Nordic actually mean?

Imagine you are from the northern part of Europe. No matter which country you think about when I say northern Europe, you no doubt realise that Nordic people have had to put up with a lot to get to where they are today.

Each of the Nordic countries have areas where they excel and things they export overseas. For example, sustainability, FridaysForFuture and the Climate Strike have become synonymous with Greta Thunberg. When you think of the best education in the world, you think about Finland, right? ABBA or IKEA bring to mind Sweden. For many, hygge equals Denmark. When asked to imagine Norway, you may think of snow-covered fjords and Iceland recalls those Nordic-style jumpers from a Nordic crime drama.

However cute these images of the Nordics may be, isnt there more to this part of the world than the jumpers? The innovation that comes from Nordics is mind-boggling. Many great inventors and sophisticated processes were originally from the Nordics. Many environmental innovations are from the Nordics too, like green energy from waves, sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics made of seaweed and the use of fish skin in the clothing industry.

People from the Nordics, I think, also feel a companionship with one another. Whenever I have been travelling and come across people from the Nordic countries, I have felt a little pang of belonging. Like the woman I had dinner with at a random restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam many years ago. We had never met before, but we were both dining alone and just started talking. She was from Sweden, backpacking through the area. She had just come across from Cambodia and was on her way to Thailand. We spent the evening talking about life, travel and missing home. I never saw her again, nor kept in contact, since this was before we had social media. Just talking with her, I remembered home and knew she was feeling the same homesickness as I was, missing the same things, like the snow and the cold climate during the December holiday season.