Have the Dutch found the antidote to burnout?
Ahh, the Northern Europeans. They love to throw a new concept into the public consciousness don’t they? A few years ago it was the Danish ‘hygge’ (defined as a quality of coziness and comfort which leads to a feeling of contentment), then it was ‘lagom’, the Swedish mindset of approaching life with an “everything in moderation” mindset. Now it’s the Dutch who are entering the ring, by tapping into the public obsession with slowing down and feeling less stressed.
‘Niksen’ first caught the attention of the world in 2019, but it’s had a revival as many of us strive to find a solution to the constant business and to-do lists of modern life. Just last month, David Lloyd Leisure announced it was launching niksen classes to help people “release tension”. So just what is it?
Translated literally, niksen literally means “to do nothing, to be idle or doing something without any use”. The concept was popularized by Olga Mecking, author of Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing during the pandemic, as a solution to the extreme levels of fatigue and, let’s be honest, general misery people were feeling. And now it’s back as a way to banish the millennial plague - burnout.
“But how can you master doing nothing?” I hear you cry. It’s actually easier than you think. While mindfulness is about being present in the moment and erasing all other thoughts from your mind (something I find literally impossible to do), niksen is about carving out time in your routine to just be. Letting your thoughts wander and following the path they take you down, trusting that at the end they’ll be a greater sense of happiness and less worries burdening your brain. Sure, it might feel weird (and definitely look weird - maybe try it at home to start with) to just sit still and do nothing intentionally, but like any practice, the more you do it, the easier it’ll supposedly become.
Now, as a parent of a toddler with a full-time job, a house to run, relationships to maintain and some semblance of a social life to sustain, I have to wonder whether this is actually the best way to spend the snippets of time I get to myself. I can reel off dozens of things I should do instead, and a handful of things I would rather do, like read. But with The Netherlands ranking the fifth happiest country in the world according to last year’s World Happiness Report (and the before that), maybe there’s something in it.
I guess like any wellness trends, it’ll have its die-hard advocates, who promise that practicing it will change your life for the better, as well as people like me who skeptically give it a half-hearted whirl and then wonder why it isn’t working for me. But if it gives me something to focus on for five minutes that isn’t “the grind”; if I’m consciously trying to do something for my own benefit and sense of wellbeing, that’s a start right?
What do you think about niksen? Will you be trying it?
Good shit
Book - I just blitzed through Seven Exes by Lucy Vine and it was a bloody riot. A hilarious rom-com about a woman who decides to revisit each of her seven exes (dubbed ‘The First Love, The Work Mistake, The Overlap, The Friend with Benefits, The Missed Chance, The Bastard, and The Serious One) convinced that one of them is “the one who got away”, it’s the perfect read for V Day.
Clothes - These wide leg black trousers from M&S are actually a God-send. As someone who believes that wearing leggings in public (unless you are actually going to workout in them) is a crime against humanity, but who also works from the sofa three days a week, I want something that’s comfy but still looks semi-smart. These tick both those boxes, now to see if they do any other colours…
Make up - You can’t beat a red lip; on days when I haven’t got time to carefully craft my eyeshadow (or brush my hair…) smearing some lippie on makes me feel like I’ve got my shit together. I’m usually a die-hard Mac fan but the perfect orangey-red shade of this Boots bargain is dreamy, and being so affordable it’s not a huge drama when my daughter stickers her fingers in it and paints the floor.