What is true luxury to you?
If you think the luxuries in life is a 42 inch flat-screen TV , a Rolex watch or a leather-upholstered Mercedes…well think again. Lifestyle in other parts of the globe can teach North American’s more about the true luxuries in life. In the current economic conditions, we could learn a few things about luxury from the Finns. Walking down the streets of Helsinki, the capital, you may notice a lack of grand architecture and extravagant homes, and lots of modest cars. Helsinki is a nice city, and it has some gems of modern design, but to the “more is better” brainwashed North American’s that are so use to tall skyscrapers and seeing fancy BMW’s and Mercedes on the streets all the time, Finland might seem a bit dull.
However, some of the Finns I do take pride in this. In the summer Finns take a five-week vacation, and many of them disappear for the entire time to small, bare-bones cottages in the woods. These secluded cabins are well cared for, but lacked any creature comforts and there was nothing to do and no one to see once you are there. You might think that this sound quite boring. However, this seclusion is extremely relaxing and it is simply a form of luxury that has little to do with expensive, top brand products and the quest to acquire them, or the need to show them off, which in the end just appeals to your ego.
While some Finns do fall for the trap of material things and the projected image of success, the majority seem to feel that the pleasures of time and solitude are more precious. If you talk to some North American ex-patriots, including some Canadians who’d lived in the US for years they will say something like “I talk to friends back in North America and they would tell me about all the latest toys they’ve bought, here in Finland I’m just puttering away on my little house like a Finn, and that’s about it. The pace of life is slower. I like that.” Americans in Finland shared similar sentiments, and they realize that they will never become rich in Finland, the reason being that taxes are just too high, but for them it was a trade-off worth making. Finland has great health care and it’s basically free. For them the fact that their kids get one of the best educations in the world, free and that includes college, free. The American ex-patriots had no plans to move back to the United States.
Finland has more than quiet pleasures of a cabin getaways to offer. Finnish cities are filled with universally well-maintained and high-quality schools, hospitals, buses, trains, and parks. While most Finns might never be able to own a Lexus SUV or a big house, they value the less-tangible assets they do have, which add up to quality of life and peace of mind. For North American’s though, our brainwashed programmed minds led us to constantly pursue and consume material things even if it means going into severe debt, and this behavior has helped get us into this current economic mess. As we all struggle to get back on our feet, maybe we should pause for a moment and think about the simplicity of the Finnish way of life.
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