Why I Live a Simple Life - My Story

[Music] [Music] Hello my name is Sanna Vera. I live in the far north of Finland and an old farmhouse in a small countryside village of 25 people I create photographs videos and music inspired by this wild Nordic nature I get to live surrounded with [Music] in this video I will share you my story of how I chose to live this simple life in the north of Finland this is a rather personal story and I do feel a bit scared sharing this with you but I hope so much some of you might resonate even recognize yourselves

in my story and find peace inspiration or courage to fulfill a life that looks like you and not a life that you are expected to have [Music] I was living in a city in southern Finland and was studying my dream career in the university I loved the studying and did great in that but I didn't quite fit in the life in the city the city environment and the working places felt too much for me I felt extremely overwhelmed in very normal situations [Music] [Music] I started to feel unwell and get pain in the chest and

the heart the doctors said it was depression and anxiety and handed me with some pills to get over it I tried to get into nature as often as I could since I felt that only in there I felt the pain go away but this was mostly on weekends the weeks were the toughest to bear and short periods in nature didn't balance the stress out during this time I traveled a lot basically I spent spent all the money I was earning to travel far away traveling was my getaway from everything from the work from the city

life probably from my confused lost myself too I felt I was searching for something I thought at the time it was experiences new cultures and new people I thought I would find something the further I went I was running away from myself and from the fact that this life was not for me and no amount of traveling could satisfy me I was trying to fit myself into a shape I thought I was expected from me a great looking life in the city working in a good job and traveling as a hobby trying to fit myself

into a life that was not for me made me physically sick I struggled in this life for years and just kept feeling worse eventually I had a spontaneous idea to leave my job my family and friends and move alone to a small cabin to far north of Finland in Lapland to a place I had never been before [Music] this happened in the whim of the moment and my friends and family couldn't quite figure why I was doing this I couldn't figure it myself either but went for it it happened so fast I didn't quite even

realize it until I was alone in the North I quickly learned that things in the north are tough no more easy city apartment life with center heating and plowed sidewalks no more supermarkets in every corner and handymen you can give a call to fix everything everyday life got harder I didn't know anyone in the whole north of land and had always been quite bad at meeting new people or asking for help I had to learn a lot of things fast and mostly by myself in the north the summers are very short most of the year

it is snowy and very dark in the heart of the winter the sun doesn't rise at all making winter seem like an endless night [Music] I didn't expect I would fall in love with the hard conditions I started to forget the anxiety while working physically maintaining the cabin plowing snow and spending endless hours adventuring outside in nature that was now everywhere around me I also didn't expect that I would get something bigger in exchange for that hardness I found a total new side of me all my life I had been told I was shy and

timid and way too dramatic with my feelings spending a lot of time alone I realized I am just highly sensitive and suddenly the world made so much sense again situations especially in city and work life that felt normal to everyone else had felt overwhelming to me because I felt them so differently I saw, heard and sensed everything at the same time and life in the city was just too much for me and eventually made me sick in the vast nature of North I found my creativity something I had had when I was a child but

thought it was a thing that belonged only to childhood without anyone around to give me advice judge or disapprove my ideas I found a total freedom to express myself I started to write about nature around me and my life in it in a blog I started I started to photograph everything I thought was beautiful around me eventually having photography exhibitions and starting my own web shop to sell prints of my photos I started to film these videos being a quiet person always struggling to be heard in the noisy world I had found my voice and

a channel that I was heard in and I could get my creativity thrive [Music] I also found out I am not shy or timid in the north I found friends that became so close that eventually we started to call ourselves the Lapland Family we share the same interests and same values and had found something in the vast nature of the north in here we have to overcome the same challenges the same hard conditions and that brings us together I also found my soulmate my best friend the love of my life from here in the middle

of nowhere where more reindeers live than actual human beings with him I started to feel myself again with all my dramatic emotions overwhelming feelings and weirdness I didn't know until I met him that there could be another soul liking this Nordic nature and its harsh arctic conditions as much as I do [Music] with him we bought the house of my and his dreams and are getting married next summer with him we share a mutual understanding to a simpler life and can finally live like we want to I have felt rootless my entire life I now

realize with all the traveling and trying to fit in that I was searching for my roots a place and a life to belong to but what I didn't read realizes that roots are alive and you can grow them I thought my roots belonged to a place I was born into a life that was similar to others I am forever grateful I had the momentary courage to choose to take my roots with me to a new place and start to grow them here to clean the space for them since they need a simple ground to thrive

in I have found my way back to the simplest things back to nature and back to my creativity [Music] I do not want to give you a false impression I still need to work I still need to do laundry go to the grocery store and put myself in situations that feel overwhelming and too much for me I still get anxious and stressed at times but now I have so much space and silence around me that they are in balance together I understand that I need all the space and time for my physical and mental health

so that I can function in this world I can work less now I get less money but here in the middle of nowhere I have less things to consume it in in exchange I get more time I have time to feel all my dramatic feelings to go through the overwhelming situations in peace I have nature around that helps me to feel rooted and stable in all situations I have the right people around me who know me all sides of me and help me with my struggles because none of us can make it alone[Music] I chose

this simple life in the north to heal myself to find myself and to feel like myself again none of it happened overnight and most of it didn't happen consciously I know that the phrase to listen to yourself is overused but it may be so for a good reason I don't think spontaneous ideas dreams and thoughts come from a void but from some wise voice inside of us that is trying to tell us what we actually need to thrive that voice might be worth listening to [Music] this is my story of why I chose this simple

[Music] life this may not be the story of your life but I really hope this gives you ideas and inspiration to listen to that voice of your wise inner self that could lead you to the beginning of your story [Music]