Dark winters with no sunlight for many weeks, and bright summers with sunlight 24 hours / day. How is it to live with the extreme light conditions that countries in the Northern hemisphere have?
In this video I want to share my own personal experience and perspective of living with the seasons in the North of Sweden, and take you on a journey to the darkest and brightest times of the year, and share the beauty and the challenges that comes with them.
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My name is Jonna And I live in the north of Sweden. Sweden is a country with a lot of light. And it’s also a country with a lot of darkness. It all depends on what season it is Just like many other countries in the northern hemisphere there is a strong contrast in the light conditions between summer and winter. In the winter its dark almost all the time.
For a couple of weeks the sun never rises above the horizon. Which means that there is no sunlight for about a month. And that is called the polar night. These extreme contrasts in light is caused by the rotation of the earth in relation to the position of the sun. And the further north you go, the bigger the contrast. I live in the middle north of Sweden And if I’m lucky and there is a clear sky I can see the sun above the treetops for about an hour during the darkest time of the year.
It’s the middle of the day And this is how high the sun goes up now. It’s just a little bit over the horizon Or over the trees.
But winters like this one, when it’s been cloudy every day I actually didn’t see a glimpse of the sun for over a month. But just a few days ago, now in the beginning of January I got to feel the sunlight on my face again. This is the first glimpse of the sun that we see in over a month.
Do you see this?!
And that feeling when you begin to feel the sunlight again in January Is always overwhelming It’s like seeing the sun for the first time in your life. Even if it can be hard sometimes with these kinds of light conditions I really love it and I would never want to change it. I think the light is never as beautiful as it is during these most extreme times of the year. When its summer I usually change my rhythm and stay up all night and then sleep in the forenoon instead.
The light is so beautiful in the middle of the night. And as a filmmaker and photographer It’s like a dream to be out and capture the beauty of the bright nights in June. And then in the winter even if we don’t get so much sunlight we at least get a few hours of twilight during the day. And that light is the most beautiful kind of daylight that I know.
It’s like experiencing a long sunrise without a sun. And when it’s a clear sky and the sun is rising just a tiny bit above the treetops It spreads a soft and pink light all over the landscape. And that is beyond beautiful. Around 3 in the day its already getting dark. And it makes the evenings feel never ending. But the darkness makes us see what is never visible in the light. Because actually we do get sunlight.
From a thousands of suns far, far away.
I live in a place where there is no light pollution. And the night sky are breathtaking. And for me, that is one of the reasons that I really love the winter here. And now and then the sun sends us a greeting in the darkness. Particles from storms on the surface of the sun comes traveling towards the earth colliding with our magnetic field and creating the Aurora Borealis The northern lights that dances in the sky. I can never find the right words to describe how much I love to stand under the northern lights on a cold and dark winter night.
I can take the darkness any day as long as I get to see the stars and the northern lights. It makes it all worth it. But even though there is so much beauty to find in these special kinds of light conditions that we have here in the north I would lie if I said that its always easy to live and adapt to them. Because it’s not. Well, the summer is easy. I don’t think you can have too much light. The only thing that people often ask me is if it’s harder to sleep when its light all night. And for me personally, if I want to sleep during the night I have no problem with that.
And for those who do feel like it’s a problem Its easily fixed with some thick and dark curtains. But the winter and the darkness is definitely much more challenging. And I can only speak from my own experience now. The lack of sunlight makes me more tried. And during the darkest and coldest months
between November and March I sometimes struggle to keep up the energy It’s harder to get up in the morning when its dark outside.
Our body naturally want to wake up with the sun. And in the afternoon I often get confused with the time Since the darkness makes it feel like it’s much later than it really is. And the lack of daylight makes me struggle more as a filmmaker Since I only have 1 hour of good light to film in a day Compared to the 24 hours of good light in the summer. So the darkness combined with the cold make things a bit more challenging And I know that I’m not the only one who are struggling to keep up the energy during this time of the year.
But of course, there is many things you can do to make the winters a little easier. I want to mention a few things that helps me adapt better to the lack of sunlight. For me personally, I think that the tiredness that I feel in the winter is the hardest part. The energy level is so low sometimes And the cure to that is not always to sleep more. It can actually be to do the opposite. So I try my best to keep being active and moving my body as much as I can.
And get as much daylight as possible. I go for long walks with my dog every day. And if the weather is good I like to go out in the forest with my snowshoes and my camera. Or go skiing. I also love to take ice baths. It’s something I started doing a few years ago combined with breathing exercises, using the Wim Hof Method. And it has become my favorite way of boosting myself with new energy when I need it the most. Going into that freezing water is actually the last thing that my body wants to do in that moment. Put putting myself into that kind of discomfort is awakening something in me that helps me reset my body.
Believe it or not, but cold swims and cold showers has many good health benefits. It’s not for everyone of course And it’s important to get knowledge before trying an ice bath if you have never done it before. But for me it has been a great source of energy and joy during the wintertime. So I really feel a big difference in my energy levels in the winter when I move my body in some way. It doesn’t need to be a full workout. But just something. A little every day that makes you feel alive.
When we can’t get enough energy from the sun I think it’s even more important to make sure that we get enough energy and nutrition from our food. Nature has so much to give us in the summer that we can harvest and save for the winter when we need it the most. Here in the north we have plenty of berries in the forest. So I like to pick tons of blueberries and lingo berries and put in the freezer So that we can eat berries and drink juice from berries every single day during the whole winter.
I also like to pick different herbs that are good for our health and dry them to make my own tea for the winter. One of my favorite teas to drink when it’s cold and dark outside is simply made out of birch leafs. I pick them just as they begin to bloom in the spring while they are still small and light green. And the tea smells and taste just like how it smells like in the spring. And in the middle of the winter I think it feels so comforting to have a piece of the spring to remind you of the wonderful time to come when everything is blooming and the birds are singing again.
And of course I also take vitamin D supplements since we don’t get anything from the sun in many months. Even though that would never replace the sun, I believe it can help a little bit. The list of things you can do to handle the darkness is endless. This were just to mention a few. But I think that the most important thing of all Is to accept and adapt to the cycles of nature. I definitely feel a big difference in the energy during summer and winter Both in nature and in myself.
And that doesn’t mean that its right or wrong. It’s just different. I think the winter and the darkness can cause a lot of unnecessary suffering when we are trying to force ourselves to feel the same as we do in the summer. and to let things slow down. A flower would never force itself to bloom in the cold winter.
So why would we?
This way of thinking changed my way of dealing with the different seasons. I love the winters just as much as I love the summers They both have their own benefits and challenges. And I think it gets much easier when we let go and accept what we feel instead of fighting it. And accept the cycles in nature and the cycles in ourselves. And learn to live with it. Like a dance. So this is how it is to live with the light and the darkness in the north of Sweden.
from my perspective. The extreme contrasts in light also creates bigger contrasts to the seasons. And they all have their own beauty. I love the constantly changing seasons And that you can see and feel how the light changes a little bit for every single day that goes by. The beautiful balance of light and darkness is my greatest source of inspiration. And it makes every day feel new and different.
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