Feeling blue?
Walt Disney's dream to create the Happiest Place on Earth gave birth to the theme park of theme parks - Disneyland. Here, children and adults indulge their fantasies in oversized stuffed animals, wild rides and make-believe kingdoms.
But I am not talking about short-term escapism but real life.
The OECD has found the happiest places in the world: Denmark is tops, followed by Finland and the Netherlands.
Yes! Finland is one of the happiest places in the world.
Finland is a nice place to be in. I continue with gripes about high cost of living but otherwise, life here is great.
Finns generally aren't particular about wealth, brands and other status symbols that many Asians are mad about. They enjoy sports, music, spending time with their families and friends. Children in Finland are encouraged to play. Not to conform to parents' or society's template of who they should be but to grow into a person who is ready to make friends and enjoy life.
While North European countries are some of the happiest (others on the top 10 list include Denmark, Sweden and Norway), someone left a comment on the Forbes article that these are also countries with some of the highest suicide rates. Maybe it's because the people here tend to be introverts or they may be troubled by long dark nights during the winter months. Finland has two tragic cases of school shootings, just 1 year apart from each other.
Nevertheless, Finns take any indication that their people are not happy quite seriously. There were local news reports that Finnish children are stressed... please, they haven't compared themselves to kids in Asia yet. Or studies that show children who exhibit disorderly behaviour tend to have trouble integrating with society later on.
No place in the world is perfect.
Thankfully, we and the people around us belong to the happy group.
No comments:
Post a Comment