How it comes that people in Denmark are happier

It has been less than 24 hours since I set foot on solid ground in Copenhagen and I am already amazed by the city. I dare to say cautiously that I could live here. It is beautiful, it is hygge and actually, it is mainly because of its inhabitants.

Let me sketch a small situation where the average Dutch person would completely lose their cool. The bus we were taking was in a hurry because we had to catch a boat that had to consider the opening times of bridges (yes, we do amusing things here in Copenhagen). In his eagerness, the driver blocked almost an entire street and particularly one car with a male driver. Nothing against male drivers in traffic, of course, but try doing this for fun in or around Amsterdam, and you’ll get the male driver gone wrong. Not in Denmark, no, the driver rolled down his window, said something in hörtegrörte-Danish to the man, and he sweetly shrugged his shoulders, laughed a bit, and calmly waited for his turn. Huh? How. Can. This. This kind of calm, space, and cleanliness only exists in self-help books, right? Well, it turns out it exists in Denmark too.

I see in Copenhagen those glowing healthy people on bikes, intensely happy potters, we pale in comparison to the sustainability of this small country, the streets are clean, and at 4:00 PM the terraces are full of locals. That last point could be a cause of the happy outcome, of course. It could be due to hygge, maybe it’s really that lagom thing, who knows, maybe it’s the nice care system (we have that too), or that studying is affordable (we used to have that too), but there’s another theory: the Danes adhere to Janteloven. And I spoke to a Dane on my trip, who actually said what the ten rules of Jante also say. The Dane thinks: just act normal, just be ordinary.

The Dane moved to L.A. because she missed the ambition in her fellow Danes. No one thought or wanted to live bigger, grander, or more exciting. Danes have it good, why would you want to change that, seems to be the general thought. Danes do little to self-entrepreneur, you see beautiful things here but little is extravagant and I haven’t heard a Dane speak loudly yet. You are allowed to show your talent, be proud of what you do, but it seems forbidden to feel better about yourself than another Dane. Proposing as much as your fellow human being also means that you accept another faster, and maybe that is really the secret of the Dane.

To be continued, because on Sunday you will get the best addresses in Copenhagen from me. Oh, and for those who find Janteloven appealing: these are its rules. You have been warned, they are not immediately very uplifting in nature.

THE LAW OF JANTE

1. You must not think that you are anything.
2. You must not think that you are as good as us.
3. You must not think that you are smarter than us.
4. You must not imagine that you are better than us.
5. You must not think that you know more than us.
6. You must not think that you are more than us.
7. You must not think that you are virtuous.
8. You must not laugh at us.
9. You must not think that anyone cares about you.
10. You must not think that you can teach us anything.

Source: Volkskrant