Questioning things

Finally the ground is white and the trees heavy under the weight of the snow. I wear thick socks and candles flicker on my desk. Slowly I’ve been getting back into routines after a long break. The holidays were spent playing boardgames, relaxing and taking care of a cat named Kiwi. January has flown by while I have been busy working, living and thinking.

So here I am, turning 30 in exactly a month from now and I find myself questioning a lot of things…

Going through my twenties has been an incredible journey of personal development and change and I sit here today a very different person. Stronger, calmer, braver and wiser.

I’ve gone from being an alternative scene kid part time working as a waitress and mostly spending her money on eating out and shopping to being a creative dread head studying photography, planning to work with interior, food and fashion photography after graduation. I started my own business as a freelancer and went down the path I’d chosen. But the bustling city life, stress and the societal pressure of consumerism became too much.

It drove me north to a life on the countryside amongst quiet forests, foggy lakes and magical night skies. I started to live slow and sustainable, I decluttered my life, cultivated my own food or gathered it from the wild. Living closer to nature I felt more alive than ever, I started valuing working less to live more – and I wanted to inspire others to do the same. I got more and more interested in the outdoor lifestyle and I went on many trips in our Scandinavian nature, and started advocating close by adventures. I shifted my focus and now work as a photographer and influencer within these topics.

?

2017 – 2018 was two great years for my business. I worked with outdoor brands, wrote about being on the road for a sustainable backpack company, captured the slow and northern lifestyle for a local whisky company, won awards and wrote about more and more outings around my city. 

A lot happened in my personal life as well. I fell in love with a Canadian wilderness guide, got into bouldering, left my house on the countryside to move into the city and created a home with my love in one of the oldest wooden houses still standing after all the fires that has raged this city. I started biking everywhere, got more work as a videographer and this spring I will hold my first workshop in storytelling and close by adventures.

I was beyond excited for 2019, an entire new year to continue on this amazing path. Then the days in January rolled by one after another, I set my bullet journal up for the new year and then I just… crumbled. Started thinking about What I am doing, and why – if it matters? Do I want to work with something as superficial as my social channels? Spend this much time infront of a screen? I don’t think so… So on a cold winter morning last week I lit some candles, had too much coffee and in my journal I scribbled down my thoughts. The pen flowed across the paper as I jotted down what I care about, my thoughts and what I don’t like. What I want to change. I made a mindmap of what’s important to me. Here are some words I feel hold importance to me:

intention, human connection, sustainability, nature, 
life quality, nature, exploration, to create, slow living

I know I still want to be creative, and work with what I am passionate about. But I’ve run my own business for 7 years and I am tired of being alone. I want a creative space to go to, work with creative people who share my interests. Put something out there that is more than pretty photos and inspiration to consume outdoor stuff (even though I’ve focused on sustainably produced things).

There’s a wild soul in me. I want to be spontaneous, outside a lot, explore and adventure. But I am also drawn to the slow life. Long, cozy mornings where you start a fire, make coffee and have a good breakfast. Having a garden, nature just outside the door. Not owning much, living cheap so that you don’t have to work much but can live more instead.

What I want. Need. Is to lead a life filled with quality, laughter, genuine human connections, being in nature, feeling the seasons change. I also feel a need to write more. I have a lot more to share than just outdoor tips and adventures. We’ll see what happens, but I know I will try and let more pieces of back me in here.

/ Rania – Living slow and staying wild