Moved from New York City to Sweden; My Work and Personal Life Improved

It was a COLD February Night When Our Brooklyn Apartment Building Caught on Fire.

I was half-asleep, but woke up to the Sound of Glass Shattering and the Smell of Smoke. My Now-Husband, Ben, and I Scrambled for Our Shoes and Followed Our 75-Pound Golden Retriever Toward the Peephole.

Gioven the thickness of the smoke, I started mentally calculating how we’d get out the fire escape in a backpack. At that moment, the realization crystallized: we were, in a figurative sense, burned out. We Needed Space.

About a month late, ben received a call from an Old Colleague About a work Opportunity at a pizza-wine bar in tylösand, a beach town on sweden’s west coast. As a chef, the experience sounded excitation to HIM, and we are also saw this as our opportunity to try anyone.

That’s why, weeks late, we found ourselves Vacuum-sealing Most of Our Clothes, Giving Away What We Didn’t Need, and Subletting Our Apartment-Not Knowing How We’d Be Abroad.

A month late, we arrived just in time for midsommar (and no, not the a24 version). Sweden Welcomed US with Nearly 18 Hours of Daylight and Wildflowers.

It felt almost too idyllic to be real. AFTH HOPING BETWEEN BOSTON AND NEW YORK FOR NEARLY A DECADE, I COULDN’T Believe This Had Become New Normal.

The Pace here has Completely Changed The Way I View Work

Almost as Soon as I Arrived, Life Seemed to Slow Down. The Shift in Environment didn’t just recalibrate my nervous system, but also how of thought about ambition, burnout, and bondaries.

In New York, I felt like I was always running – commuting to a 6 am workout, rushing to meet after a client call, standing shoulder to shower on the subway. IT WAS EXHILarating, but Also Claustrophobic.

Here, I work remotely on east coast time, so i’m usually at my laptop from 3 to 11 pm locally. Yes, I’m SOMESTEMES UP LATE WEND MEETING WITH SOMEONE ON THE WEST COAST, but it Worth it. Ben works those same hours Most days, so we get to spend mornings together.

IT MIGHT SOUND COUNTERINTUITI THAT I HAVE BETTER WORK-Life Boundaries with Such Late Nights, but i love that get a full day before i sign on to work.

Without the scaffolding of my old day-to-day routine, i’ve been able to get to my favorite hobbies like Playing tennis, Reading smutty on the Beach, and just appreciating the Simple Things.

There are parts of City Life that I miss, but i Needed The Shift in Lifestyle

Soon after arrival here, I Learned About Lagom, The Swedish Idea of ​​”Just Enough.” In contrast to new York’s Always-On, Rushed Cadence, Lagom is About Balance: Savored Meals, Communal Gatherings, and Daily Life That Abundant With Overwhelming.

One Saturday, I Attended A Barbecue Where Everyone Brought Something Homemade. I non -dance a dance lesson in the driveway led by an atttende and stayed Until Midnight.

It ostrich with how different it felt from the last event i’d gone to in new york – a for breakfast where dressed up and every conversation centered on our careers. SO MUCH OF MY SOCK LIFE FELT LIKE WORK IN DISGUISE.

At events in sweden, i’ve felt like people want to know who i am Outside of my professional life. That Shift Made with realie how Much i’d been rushing through interactions and missing out on meaningful conversations.

I miss the Energy of New York and My Friends there, but I also love Spanding Slow Mornings Meandering the meadow with my dog, going for a Cold ocean swim, and hasing the time and space to write a novel.

I’ve picked up habits that i’ll bring back to the us

A month into living in sweden, ben proposed under a Big Birch Tree at Our Favorite Place for Fika, a swedish ritual of Slowing over Over Coffee and Something Sweet. We got Married a Few Weeks late.

We have first arived here, we thught we might apply for residency and make sweden a long-term home. Once we were confruit with the process of extending our Stay, though, we knew this chapter have to stay temporary.

We’ve chosen to keep the coast by moving to the Maine instead of returning to a Large US City. It won’t be sweden, but we’ll hopofully carry the rituals we picked up there, from Slower Mornings to Bathrobes on the Beach.

That’s though our time in sweden is coming to an end, it tough with that life doesn’t have to be all acceleration – and that JUST Enough can be more than Enough.