For my family this past week, a lot was accomplished and a lot was realized. I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say that we had our own version of an ‘awakening’. We’ve spent the last couple of days in a remote forested area in a cabin on the bank of one of the thousands of lakes that cover Lapland.
This was a time to reflect on our own way of life, as we were guided by a native of this secluded part of Finland. We slept in a handmade house, with food that was grown from their garden, and wandered around the forest. I would call this an ‘awakening’ because of how life-changing this experience was. Being filled with this complete and utter peace of living so naturally, simply, and happily was something that anyone, who is ready to embrace it wholeheartedly, is in need of. It’s not that from now on my family will not have to ever endure the struggles of stress, it’s more that this experience taught us how to cope with such feelings so we don’t waste our life away. Directing our life towards what makes us happy is key.
Anyways, during our time up in the Laplands, I came across something that I feel I should have realized before. What I noticed was that animals, no matter where they are in the world, will act in the same ways. A dog will always have a happy-go-lucky spirit, a horse will be calm but strong and beautiful, and a bird will get easily excited over the littlest of movements. This got me thinking, that if a species’ essence is displayed everywhere in the world, what’s the difference with humans? Why are some things about us, like the way we live so incredibly different from each other? Is it language barriers? Is it traditions? Or perhaps society’s hyper-focus on stereotypes that dehumanize us and make us into something alien when really we are all the same.
I don’t have an answer; I’m not sure if there’s just one honestly. But it’s definitely something to think about.
Me at the cabin in Lapland
Sled dogs excited to pull at Santa’s Village, Rovaniemi
Stately reindeer, Santa’s Village, Rovaniemi