What It’s Really Like Living Far From the City | Northern Finland – VIDEO

On these August evenings, with rain tapping softly against the tin roof of our home and our little one already asleep, I gathered together some of the questions I’ve been asked most often since moving here to the north.

There are many of them, but most often, people ask about the practical side of everyday life. Do we have electricity? Running water? How far do we have to travel for groceries? And how do I arrange my life in a way that feels slow and unhurried in the middle of such a busy world?

I can already give you a little spoiler: even though I live here in the middle of northern nature, surrounded by eight distinct seasons, life is actually quite ordinary. We have electricity and running water. We have grocery lists and take out the trash. We have work parties, vacuuming, and yes, sometimes even the occasional rush.

Still, I feel that life here is slower, quieter, and, at least for me, much richer and more fulfilling than life in the city. But everyone has their own path and their own way of arranging their life. What feels good and meaningful to me may not be the same for someone else.

Of course, living this far from everything has another side to it, too. I could call them the downsides, but I don’t always think of them that way. The distances are long, no matter where you’re going. There are fewer services, and sometimes there simply aren’t any nearby, which means more driving. The winters are long, dark, icy, and cold. You need a couple of cars, regular maintenance, good winter tires, and plenty of firewood to keep the wood-burning oven warm throughout the winter.

But for me, all of that is a small price to pay for everything else I get in return. And I’ll tell you more about that in the video.

I’ve tried my best to answer your questions in this video. I hope that somewhere in these stories, you might find a little inspiration to follow your own path, whatever that path may look like.

🖤 Sanna