Hygge

I learned a new word the other day!

Hygge. It's a Danish word and it's pronounced Hoo-Guh. It means a quality of coziness and comfort that brings a feeling of contentment or well-being. It's a feeling of safety. A feeling of home.

It's the early mornings when you're all alone, the house is quiet and calm. A warm cup of tea in your hands as you watch the early light filter through the window. It's the evening snuggles on the couch in fuzzy socks and your favorite blanket. It's the sound of rain of the rooftop. Its the weight of your dog's head on your lap or the weight of your love's head on your shoulder. It's a lit candle. It's a sigh of contentment. It's release and relief from the stress of the world that lies outside your door. This is hygge to me.

It's my new favorite word. Hell, I think it's my new mission - to create spaces that offer me hygge.

When I bought this house, I had all kinds of dreams for the life with which I would fill these walls. I dreamed of little tiny footsteps running down the hall. I dreamed of birthday parties and snowball fights in the backyard. I knew exactly what room I would use as the nursery and I had the whole thing planned out in my head. I wanted to start a family in this home. I expected to start a family in this home... but my life didn't go as expected. I will very likely never live out those dreams in this house.

Living here, post divorce, and having to reimagine my home was one of the more challenging parts of the grief process for me. It was accepting my new future. And one day it hit me, if I was changing into a new woman with a new life, my house was going to have to change into a new home. I had to repurpose this space. I had to reframe this space. I had to make it new. I had to make it mine - this new me needed her own house for her new life and her new dreams. Not the old me with her old house and her old dreams.

So I set out on a mission. I didn't have the words to explain it then, but I do now. My mission is to achieve hygge. One room at a time, I am creating spaces that bring me peace and joy and comfort. I am cultivating a home for myself. My goal is to create a space that wraps me up in a warm blanket of hygge. This is my pursuit. This is my purpose.