The Hyggelig Journey

Now that the light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible, the mind wavers between hope and imbalance. Many have fallen victim to the syndemic, and many have survived, yet the scars will remain in humanity’s history for years to come. Recognising this is crucial because, in the years ahead, many will experience uncertainty. The fear that COVID-19 may leave lasting after-effects will be the subject of intense research. However, this is neither the first nor the last time humanity has undergone a collective rupture from normality. The difference is that you have witnessed it firsthand and will carry the critical perspective of someone who has lived through uncertainty. More than ever, we will celebrate life, yet among us will remain a lingering sense of sorrow, melancholy, and indignation that will take time to fade. Pain becomes history’s pages, while times of peace and tranquillity are only truly remembered by those who have seen the worst and learned to recognise t...

We are living through something never before seen. A collective grief. A strange and quiet mourning, unfolding in layers. We do not grieve for a single thing, but for many. For the world that was, for the ordinary days that once seemed unremarkable. For the rhythm we had without knowing it was a rhythm. Something has shifted, and we feel it in the body. The loss of normality. The fear of what will become of us. The vanishing thread of social connection. It presses against us, all at once, an invisible weight. And there is a grief that is not yet grief, but already lingers in the air. Anticipatory grief. That sensation of standing at the edge of something vast and uncertain, trying to see what lies ahead, but only meeting fog. It is the grief of what might be, the whisper of a loss that has not yet happened but is already mourned. Usually, it is tied to death. A doctor utters an unspeakable diagnosis, and time fractures. Or, on a quiet afternoon, an ordinary thought slips in: one day, ...