As a student from Portugal i find Finland very depressing even though Finland is ranked as happiest country in the world
As a student from Portugal i find Finland very depressing even though Finland is ranked as happiest country in the world
28 comments
You need to find your inner happiness. Finnish culture and society is so different from yours that you can’t expect to be instantly happy just because you are in Finland.
Sounds like you’d fit right in, actually
I think it means happy as in happy with the infrastructure/society/standard of living etc
It turns out happiness isn’t delivered in a handbasket
I can understand why someone from sunny Portugal would feel depressed in december in Finland. It’s very dark now but summer is good time in Finland if you have a chance to be here then.
Understandable considering the weather. The entirety of the winter without snow is very dull and rancid-looking. It’s like if November would last for four months.
Not every finnish citizen lives in Helsinki. Winter is beautiful if you go where the snow stays in ground
Don’t be so hard. I’m from Argentina, I live in the North and it is not thaaaat bad
Well its winter everything is dark, cold, dead and wet of course its depressing for lot of people. Personally i like darker seasons because i dislike hot weather and summer when i can’t get sleep because its always so bright.
Also nothing beats laying under warm blanket on cold days and roaring fireplace.
As a Finn, I love the sombre serenity of December and the other dark months of the year. But I can understand why other people find it depressing.
I like it. It’s cozy to lie under warm blankets and drink tea while it’s dark and cold. Wool socks make me happy. All the Christmas lights shining in the dark are so gorgeous. And the city’s lights being reflected on the dark lakes surface is so pretty too
One way to look at it is that having these kind of dark, dreary winter landscapes helps provide a strong contrast to the summer. The lush green nature and constant sunlight of summer feel that much better after enduring the winter darkness.
Those statistics doesn’t measure weather, they measure happiness.
Well it’s not the weather that makes us happy
Its much better when theres snow. Without it, everything just looks… dead.
Ok
I’m from Mexico and have been living in Finland for 6 months now. I really don’t mind the cold weather and the darkness, I actually like the weather here because in Mexico the sun is so strong that it burns your skin.
Those rankings are for general well-being. You can’t actually rank happiness because that is too abstract and it has a different meaning for each person.
What this view is missing is snow.
This is the most “depressing” time of the year. Seasonal Affective Disorder is common. Plus, it’s exacerbated right now by Corona. Portugal has a completely different culture to Finland, so I expect you’re also missing home, especially during this festive season. Late January/February, it should start to be very sunny (and very cold) and you’ll see more life coming back. If you can, I recommend socialising as much as possible. Or hibernating.
A common misconception about Finland is that is the best place in the world. It really isn’t. However, it probably is the least shitty place in the world
I am also from Portugal! But I fell in love with country and its beautiful light, the beautiful snow and the cold. And the miracle of spring. But I think it depends what you value 🙂
Finland looks depressing in winter without snow. But when there’s plenty of snow, Finland looks pretty beautiful, although it gets dark at 4pm
This picture you’ve posted is what winter looks like in, like… most of the northern hemisphere. You just happen to be from a very warm and tolerable climate.
But I will also say that the recent lack of snow in the south makes it feel darker. Where I live we have snow through the entire winter, and honestly it’s not that bad.
As a former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, once quipped, if Finland is the happiest country in the world, how miserable the rest of the world must be!
Humour aside, however, it takes time for outsiders to understand why Finland is a happy country. In time you will come to understand the unparalleled level of institutional development in this country and how it contributes to people’s sense of satisfaction with life.
It took me about 2-3 years to stop hating and to start actually loving Finland. The wisdom in the Finnish system is deep, but it’s not obvious.
You need to find joy in little things
If you’re depressed , you’ll be depressed anywhere ..
Let’s see, if you go back to Portugal right now you can start paying tons of taxes, get zero quality of healthcare, social services that do not work at all, start paying rents with stupid prices, and then you can ask yourself why Finland is ranked the happiest country in the world.
Edit: I am from Portugal, live in Portugal, spent some months in Finland and I’m looking forward to living in there soon.
I feel like this whole misunderstanding comes from people (finns and foreigners alike) conflating the term “happiness” with “joy”. And we definitely aren’t joyful or in a good mood all the time.
On the other hand there are many countries with a much warmer & sunnier climate and culture where people are always positive, friendly, laughing, smiling & generally joyful. But if you look past the superficial, the average/even remotely low income person is most likely struggling with things that we take for granted as the bare minimum.
The other thing is that just cause a country has the title of “happiest country” doesn’t mean that then anyone who moves there from somewhere else will instantly become happy. Even just immigrating to a new and unfamiliar place is going to put a damper on one’s general wellbeing at least temporarily for most people. Even if you’re now living in candy land with sunshine and rainbows, you’re still gonna have to deal with culture shock, navigating the social scene, daily affairs, finding work, getting used to a new environment & climate, learning the local language, homesickness, etc etc. All of that in itself might make a person depressed for a period of time, and some people might never even fully adapt cause even if they manage to overcome all of those difficulties, they realize that the overall culture & way of life there might not even fit their own personality or interests.
Just cause the native population of any given nation are overall happy & content with their life and what they have, doesn’t mean that that particular country is then by default going to be the best fit for even most people from other countries. Many of us are ultimately the happiest and most comfortable with what’s familiar and feels most like home. Or a place where we feel like life is easier/better than where we’re from and also doesn’t conflict too much with who we are and the things that bring us joy in life.