Can you believe winter hasn’t even officially begun? We might have been staring down the barrel of the coldest season of the year for what feels like the length of my living memory, but the solstice is still weeks away. I am delighted. The reason behind my happiness (aside from an extensive winter coat collection?) Nordic wintering trends—yes, Hygge, but also a lesser known concept called ‘Friluftsliv’.
I first learned about Friluftsliv, which loosely translates to “open-air living” or “life in the fresh air” while in Lillehammer, Norway, where I was conquering—or at least trying to conquer—my fear of skiing. My Instagram algorithm, always quick to respond to geo-tagging, started feeding me content about this wholesome approach to winter. My feed filled up with reels of towering trees and flickering candles with words like “rest” and “nourish” overlaid in looping letters. Naturally, being a Brit, and a Londoner, I recoiled. I was in Norway to tick some life goals off my to-do list! To face down my fears! All fair ambitions, but as the days fell away and I started to ease into a slower pace (necessitated by post-skiing fatigue), I found myself wondering if these Nordics had the right approach to winter after all.
