Reclaiming My Nordic Roots
I have been working on something very exciting and it is time to share it with the world. Introducing Nordic Nobodies!
Yes, there is a new Substack page, a challenge and a book in the making!
Let me start by giving you a bit of background.
As you know, two years ago I published my first book “Ageing Upwards”. It opened a lot of doors professionally, but a pleasant surprise was that it also opened up some new personal connections. On LinkedIn I connected with the Finnish author Kati Reijonen. It turned out we had a lot of common interest about ageing, meditation, writing and our nordic backgrounds.
I grew up Danish, and have lived most of my adult life abroad. It is not until lately, that I am starting to fully value the gifts of my Danish heritage, such as:
Trust. In others. In institutions. In shared responsibility. It is only now that I realise how rare it is to live in a place where social trust is a baseline, not a luxury.
A sense of enough. That deep cultural current of moderation, balance, and quiet pride—never flashy, always grounded. The idea that joy isn’t something you chase, but something you tend, and it is something you have to tend together with others.
A love of simplicity. Not just clean lines, candlelight, wooden furniture, the colour white and LEGO but a whole way of being: valuing space, time, presence, nature and silence.
Kati told me of similar Finnish cultural traits that are similar to Danish, as well as others that are quite different. Through countless online conversations and a few too many glasses of wine on one night in Helsinki our friendship blossomed. Kati´s approach to life and ageing awakened something in me. She “got me” somehow and I began to reconnect with my Nordic roots, which up till now, just felt like an ordinary way of living. Our conversations (as well as seeing the current crazy state of some other countries in the world), have made me recognise the quiet strengths Scandinavia has given me. Together, Kati and I began asking:
What is it that makes Denmark and Finland top the list of the happiest countries in the world year after year and how can we utilise our nordic heritage to face aging not with fear, but with curiosity, courage, and community?
We started calling ourselves: Nordic Nobodies.
While we don't seriously believe anyone is a "nobody" (we consider everyone a "somebody"), women our age often feel invisible, uninteresting, and irrelevant. As women from small Nordic countries—speaking weird languages and eating strange foods (like salted, fermented, pickled, or even downright rotten herrings)—we've also felt like cultural outsiders, even misfits, underdogs. After we processed these experiences, we discovered, to our surprise, that being an underdog is not a bad thing, for there is a surprising upside: An underdog - a nobody- is free to do whatever she wants because there are no expectations and hence no pressure.
The concept Nordic Nobodies was born to celebrate women in this period of their lives.
We have recently also welcomed a third woman to the fold: Vulla, who in her 40s represents younger women (I am in my 50s and Kati is in her 60s). She has Swedish connections but also brings some inter-European energy to our team as she is part Greek.
Nordic Nobodies speaks to all women in midlife and beyond who, like us, feel like they are wearing an invisibility cloak.
We ask:
What if being written off by others is actually the beginning of real freedom?
What if invisibility is not a curse—but a cloak of power?
Nordic Nobodies is not about fame, youth, or even reinvention. It’s about reclaiming joy through quiet rebellion, deep roots, and a kind of sacred ordinariness. But most of all, it is about community!
The majority of women in their midlife and beyond are “nobodys” by conventional standards. But in a world obsessed with fame, youth, and personal branding, that might just be our greatest strength
Being authors, Kati and I originally set out to write a book about the subject. The fabulous Alison Jones gave us the boost and clarity we needed in her 10 day book challenge, but when the challenge was over, we realised that we were not quite ready to write a book afterall.
Since the book will not be about us, but about what ageing women face in today’s world, we need to include other women in the writing proces. Leaving Denmark helped me see what I couldn’t before. Similary, we need distance and other people´s point of view to see our blind spots, to fully understand if – or how – a nordic approach can help us age well. We also want a practical approach – not just fluffy words. As a consequence, our book has turned into a practical challenge;
“The Beauty of Being Overlooked. An 18 week challenge for women considered to be “past their prime” to discover the freedom that comes with no expectations”.
The challenge will launch on Substack in September and will be free for everyone to join. We are hoping to start a community, a safe place, where we can all grow together while having a lot of laughs along the way.
Stay tuned for more information.
For now we have one kind request:
Could you please give us some honest feedback on our logo as you see it at the top of this post.
Does our logo make you want to join our upcoming Substack, our community and maybe read our book one day? Why/why not?
We look forward to hearing from you! Either here in the comments or in a private email to berit@thrivinglife.eu
With much appreciation, Kati, Vulla and Berit, The Nordic Nobodies