(Reflections on the train ride home from Enafors, Jämtland.)

As the night train leaves Enafors I lie in the sleeping car listening to the rhythm of the wheels and realise how much calmer I am now compared to four days ago. The somewhat stressed person who climbed aboard the Jämtland-bound train is completely gone. I am back to being the harmonious person I am, or rather would like to be. Four days spent in the great outdoors, with all its simplicity and lack of demands, have worked their magic.

It is clear to me how spending time outdoors has become more and more important in my life. It is all about new experiences and adventures, about rest and recuperation. I am convinced that it is from the time I spend outdoors that I get the nourishment and energy I need to deal with the demands of my everyday life. This is where I get my strength and calm.

There is nothing new in this. Most of you are probably nodding in agreement with me. It has become well accepted that the outdoors is a great place for recuperation. I am, however, fairly sure that far too few of us live according to this insight. My visit to a big department store book sale before I got on the train to Jämtland last Wednesday confirmed this. The piles and piles of self-help books and anti-stress manuals failed time and time again to take up the power of nature.


Every self-help book should include a map with clear instructions to the nearest woods.



I can’t help but think that this is strange, particularly in Sweden which is a country allowing everyone legal right of access to both crown and private land. Swedes and visitors to Sweden have more or less unlimited opportunities to be in the open countryside. The countryside does not require a doctor’s prescription and is constantly on-call. If this isn’t enough it is also difficult to overdose on and if planning and common sense are used there are few side effects, except for the occasional mosquito bite of course. Shouldn’t it be mandatory for every self-help book to include a map with clear instructions to the nearest nature reserve?

Report after report states that we can recuperate from stress more effectively by taking a walk in the countryside than we can by taking a walk in a built-up area. That a holiday in the great outdoors is more relaxing than one in a city, or even a break at home in the sofa. The list goes on.

It is possible I am exaggerating a tiny bit, but there is something in the question posed by the poet Bo Setterlind which would translate to: “Have you forgotten that the forest is your home, that the big, dark, quiet forest is standing there waiting for you as would a friend?”.

Not that the forces of nature were in agreement with our plans this weekend. We had to constantly revise them according to the storm. But despite the tempest, the results are the same: peace and harmony.


On high altitude with a good outlook, nature press my ”all-is-well” button.



When I think about it I cannot remember ever feeling as calm as I did when I sat on the top of the peak Getryggen. Could it be so simple that our species, after surviving for thousands of generations in the wilderness, still feels most relaxed and at home in surroundings which resemble those where the first people most likely felt the safest? High up with a good outlook, close to water and a campfire. I know that these places definitely press my “all-is-well” button and allow me to relax completely.

I don’t have to look out the window to confirm that we are now in Åre. The train is suddenly full of teenagers. If we go by the noise level, the distance between now and the Stone Age is maybe not too large after all.

I put in my earplugs and contemplate the thought that we are all still like our Stone Age forefathers despite all the advances we have made allowing us to easily and quickly transport ourselves from vast wildernesses to bustling cities. In seven hours I am going to wake up 700km away in Stockholm Central Station and then take the subway on to work.

Before I fall to sleep ideas for my next adventure start to take form. It won’t be long before I am out there again, giving the Stone Age person within me what he needs.