The holidays often involve jubilant gift exchanges, renewed connections with family and friends, and treasured traditions. But the love and cheer can also be accompanied by a host of stressors – chaotic travel, conflicts over COVID-19 preventive measures, difficult dinner conversations with relatives, and worries about affording and finding holiday gifts…
— from ‘How to Deal With Holiday Stress, Danish-Style’ by Marie Helweg-Larsen in The Conversation.
According to psychology professor Marie Helweg-Larsen, “Denmark, despite its cold and gloomy winters, is full of people who consistently rank among the happiest in the world.”
The professor suggests that Danes get through Christmas successfully by applying two uniquely Danish concepts. “Overskrue” which essentially means, “I just don’t have the energy to deal with this”… and “Pyt” which means, “Gee, that’s too bad, isn’t it.”
Since 2012, the ‘World Happiness Report’ has been using statistical analysis to determine the world’s happiest countries. In the 2022 report, the report concluded that Finland is the happiest country in the world, with Denmark running a close second.
As we see, the United States was ranked 16 out of 146 surveyed countries. So, not too terrible. But it wasn’t clear whether the ‘World Happiness Report’ surveys took place during Christmas.
I’m a big fan of statistical analysis, because it can be used to support most any perspective or argument, no matter how stupid.
So I went looking for some statistics that could explain the high levels of happiness exhibited in frozen countries like Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland. I mean, these places aren’t just cold. They are fricking cold.
Statistics to the rescue! A quick Google search brought me to a Wikipedia page entitled:
List of countries by alcohol consumption per capita
Yes, the Danes may feel comfortable admitting that they simply don’t have the energy to deal with Christmas… and gee, ain’t that a shame.
But Danes also drink a lot. Compared to other countries. The equivalent of 10.4 liters of pure ethyl alcohol per adult, annually.
Finland? 10.7 liters equivalent.
Here in the good old US of A, we are close behind, at 9.8 liters.
For comparison, the adults in Somalia consume 0.0 liters. Like, zero.
We also note that Somalia doesn’t even appear on the ‘World Happiness Report’ list of 146 counties. (Why waste everyone’s time on a survey there, I suppose?)
Professor Helweg-Larsen concludes her essay about the Danish approach to holiday stress:
One of the benefits of holiday stress – compared to unexpected stress – is that you can anticipate it.
You’ve been here before. If you don’t try to do it all and don’t expect everything to go according to plan, you may just end up having your best holiday yet.
But for everyone’s sake, keep a bottle handy.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.