In roughly a week’s time I will have been off Social (Instagram, Facebook, X, writing regularly on the blog) for about 2 months. It’s been an interesting experiment in what my relationship to electronic media is really like. How much did I rely on it for news and keeping up to date with friends and family? What news stories and content drove me back on? What did I miss posting about and what did I miss out on generally?

I suspect a sociologist would have enjoyed watching me. The first few weeks were easy: I had a holiday in Yorkshire with patchy reception and plenty to do. The second week was the UK election: I dipped a toe into X for news, but it becomes very addictive very quickly, so I dipped out again.

There were times when I reached for the phone out of habit: watching TV, for instance, and I would unthinkingly try to scroll on Insta or Facebook as I sat. I was (not pleasantly) surprised how often the scroll function acted as a time filler in waiting spaces or quiet moments of life. At first I missed the constant stream, the stimulation.

And then I didn’t. I opened a folder in my Photos storage titled “Summer 2024: Life in Person” and put all the photos in there that I felt I would have shared. At first it was a lot: this bird, that castle, the waterfalls and crags and gorges of the Yorkshire Dales. Then there were a few quiet weeks, with a lot of cups of coffee, tea by the window, perhaps a good book or a movie night. And then I went quiet. Partly because I missed getting feedback on the photos, partly because I was too busy being in the moment. How can one capture the peace of a chapel in a shot of a candle or a detail of a stained glass window? And what photo could explain the strength of the wind at the top of a hill as one looked across an island on a sunny-but-windy North East coast? Better just to be there, to feel it and to treasure it.

And I found my reading mojo again. I’m not reading lots of books, but the ones I’m reading I am really enjoying. I’m spacing life out, walking slower, daydreaming again and anticipating the seasons turn.

I found time to look at life, and to recognise the elements I love and the elements I must endure. One balances the other, mostly. I had space to decide what role social media plays in my life, and what parts of it to recollect after the summer passes. Post to follow, obviously. And my little blog has a role. I need it to. It’s my own private place, a space to write just for me but that, I hope, also speaks to others. I like the long form posts, rather than short 240-character or Insta perfect cheerfulness. I like the honesty I can have with the blog, and the way it shows my development along the way.

The summer showed me that hygge, cosiness, familial closeness, creating sanctuary space and time, was still important to me. I still want to visit Denmark, but I’m happy recognising hygge where I see it. I also still feel the UK needs to give its head a shake and find a way to be that can hold both the good heart of the past and the promising heart of the future. We’re still too divisive and divided to see a path clearly. Hygge has a role to play with that. If we let it.

And so I sit mid-way through August. My countdown app tells me there are 17 days until my official re-entry on 1st September, but we’re definitely on the home stretch now. I feel rather like I did as a school teacher during the long, six-week holiday. Two were spent in decompression, two were pure freedom and liberty to live as I wished and the last two were like some form of re-entry. Collect the games and treasures of summer together, find the pencil cases, gather resources for the months ahead, start planning for lessons or themes or topics. Move from free-spirit mode, to a more practical, job’s worth, rule-keeping manner.

Return seat to upright position, extinguish all lights, prepare for re-entry. Not long now, and life will return to whatever passes for normal in September 2024. Buckle up. And may God’s good hygge go with you.

How to Hygge the British Way is my gift to the world. I don’t get paid for writing it, I’m not in it for the kudos, financial rewards, to become an influencer, work with brands or otherwise make any money from the blog. That’s why there are no ads, and any products I mention and recommend have either been gifted to me or bought by me with my everyday wages or donations from supporters. Every book I review has been bought and read by me, unless stated otherwise.

I do get a couple of pennies each time someone buys from the Amazon links on my page, as an Amazon Affiliate, but otherwise if you’d like to support me, I like to give something back in return. That’s why I write books. It always feels good if you get a book back in return for some money. You can find a full list of my books at my Author’s Page on Amazon, but especially recommended for this time of year are:

Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. Lent is a season of rituals and resets. The book has small and easy ways to make your life flow with grace and happiness, which lead to more hygge.

Happier: Probably my most personal book, it’s the story of how I used hygge and the little things in life to help boost my happiness. I still go back and reread to remind myself what I need to do to be a happy human. And it’s always the little things.

Is it too early to think ahead? My Christmas books are always available: Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas is a good place to start, on how to make the season cosier, happier. Celebrating a Contagious Christmas was written during covid year, but has useful advice on celebrating when times are hard anyway and Enjoying a Self-Care Christmas is a short e-book on keeping Christmas simpler, easier and better for you, your waistline and your budget. It even includes 25+ suggestions for self-care activities over Christmas, as simple as sipping tea, keeping a list journal or lighting a candle. Bigger is not always better for Christmas.

I’m currently working on two book projects: I have a hankering to rewrite 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way, so it’s not available at the moment, but even dearer to my heart and my next stated aim is to finish and publish my next book, Simple Plus Cosy = Hygge. It will be about homemaking and how the home we create shapes the hygge we have. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of summer 2025.

If you’d like to support me, but don’t want to buy a book, I have a Paypal.Me account as Hygge Jem. Every little helps, so even a few pence goes towards the books, goods and courses I use and recommend on the site. I’m grateful for every little bit that brings me closer to my dream of full-time writing, and I know I couldn’t still be writing if it weren’t for the support of many readers and friends out there. Thank you all for every little bit of support, emotional, physical and financial, you give me.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it or save it so others can enjoy reading, thinking about and living hygge as well.

The photo between post and promotions is by Laurentiu Iordache on Unsplash. Summer brings poppies, and a glorious sun that eventually has to set.