In reality, that imagery couldn't be farther from the truth of how today's Viking descendants operate. The Swedes strive for fairness, mindfulness, and contentment over greed, gluttony, and indulgence.
The concept of lagom pertains to a vast majority of Swedish daily life. Whether it be diet, exercise, or the enjoyment of alcoholic drinks, there is always a sensible amount. Even in choosing their coffee, most won't stray too far from the sensible middle, so a medium roast sells better than light or dark.
Moderation doesn't just apply to commodities, either. You'd be hard pressed to witness a Swede acting highly emotional, boisterous, or braggadocios. Most can speak multiple languages, but don't consider it worth fawning over.
Somewhere in between the extremes, usually erring on the side of reservation, with a focus on what is fair and appropriate, is where you'll find most Swedes. Life is all about being mindful, logical, and finding contentment through the stability of simplicity and knowledge of purpose. What comes to mind when you think about Sweden? If you're like me and had never stepped foot there before, you think of its famous megastore, IKEA.
Simple yet effective, beautiful yet functional. Lagom seems to be the standard that IKEA designs are crafted to, if only to reach the standards Swedes expect. The furniture is only the tip of the iceberg. You'll see a simple, less is more mentality applied in all aspects of the Swedish lifestyle. Homes are minimalistic and elegant, transportation is efficient and effective, and the design of everything around you is pleasingly ingenious yet effortless.
IKEA isn't the only worldwide sensation to come from Sweden. You don't typically see cutting-edge runway fashions like in Milan or Paris. That's just how it is in Sweden.
Even in a typical business setting, jeans are often suitable office attire, because mysig reigns supreme. And that's really what makes Sweden so simply great. The country operates based on what makes sense. Taking care of our planet To that point, Sweden, and each of the other nordic countries, lead the rest of the world when it comes to sustainable practices.
Maybe it's their proximity and relationship with the ocean, or maybe their understanding of balance. Most impressively, Sweden recycles nearly all of their waste , almost to the point of insanity.
It took a while for me to adjust, honestly. Diligently separating the rubbish into five separate bins is as routine as washing the dishes. It seemed so foreign at first for us Americans, but then again how we operate back home was baffling to my Swedish cousin, Sofia. As my husband did the dishes after dinner one night, she asked him about our garbage disposals in the sink. Where does it go? That wastefulness seems counterintuitive, and there's really no defense for it.
Being efficient and mindful of consumption is easy if everyone buys in, and everyone in Sweden has bought in. Some of the reason the people of Sweden are so cognizant of the environment is because they know what matters. Like many European countries, Swedes take pride in their culture and raise their families according to their cultural values.
To the Swedish, independence and accountability are what matters maybe this is why Swedes are always so prompt. Swedes are unique in that they highly value the importance of being self-sufficient. Once a child turns 18 years old, in all facets of life, they are not to be reliant on their parents. Even the elderly are financially independent and typically live separately from their adult children because Sweden understands the importance of high quality eldercare.
But while being a self-reliant adult is important, it does not mean that the Swedes don't have a major focus on their family. Family holidays and dinners are a major part of that tradition, and these traditions become a part of their identity.
The government also sees the importance in their citizens spending time with their family. Swedish law allows new parents to share up to days, or 16 months, of paid parental time off after having a child. This allows Swedish men to get much more paternity leave than their counterparts across the globe.
Even the busiest worker will stop and take a break for this traditional indulgence, which is a nice reminder that it can be valuable to step back and think.
Also, cardamom buns are delicious. Forget Ikea. There's something about Sweden maybe the crystal-clear water? It probably explains why Swedish artists have won so many Eurovision Song Contests.
It's not only the Finns who love a good shvitz. The sauna bastu in Swedish is a necessary amenity in a country with long, cold winters. To do a proper Swedish-style bastu, strip down nudity is no big deal here, but you can wear a swimsuit if you're uncomfortable , sweat for a while in the sauna, then jump into a freezing cold lake. It also helps to have a beer afterward or before. The Scandinavian premium on living your best life extends into maternity and paternity leave, which are famously the most generous in the world.
In the US, mothers get 12 weeks of leave from their job, one of the lowest numbers in the industrialized world.
Oh, and that leave is unpaid. New Swedish parents, according to their national website , get days of paid leave while receiving 80 percent of their salary.
Many of these benefits are also available to Swedes who are unemployed. So you can have sequential kids and just not work for, like, three years. Frigidly cold weather is scarcely a deterrent for getting out into nature. Pretty much everyone is in great shape. Even in winter, we always try to find ways to go hiking or walking. In Scandinavia, school is free, healthcare is basically free, and child daycare is totally free. Meanwhile, in Sweden, healthcare including dental!
Iceland had a particularly nasty time climbing out of the financial crisis. Rather than let homeowners suffer a wave of foreclosures, the country took a humane approach. Frederik Rubens Mortensen, a Danish finance worker who got his MBA in Los Angeles, offered a suggestion to Americans looking for a land of low homicides, drug abuse, obesity, mental illness, infant mortality, and high-school dropouts: head to his homeland, which has some of the best social mobility in the world.
Scandinavians say their social contracts thrive because their community is strong. To do this, Scandinavians are some of the best people in the world at straight-up chilling together. Everyone does it a little differently. Finns have their saunas, a sacred bonding tradition dating back thousands of years with strict rules and customs.
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