Halo, sahabat Ruanita. Perkenalkan nama saya Kiki, yang sekarang menetap di Swedia sejak 4 tahun lalu. Saya berasal dari Jakarta. Sebelum menetap di Swedia, saya pernah tinggal di Penang, Malaysia selama 2 tahun. Di Swedia, saya bekerja sebagai Full Time Employment di Start Up company yang bergerak di industri electronic recycling. Maaf, kalau cerita saya bercampur antara Bahasa Indonesia dengan Bahasa Inggris. 

Berbicara soal Lagom, saya tentu dengan senang hati menjelaskannya kepada kalian. Lagom is a Swedish word that means balance living  “not too little, not too much, just right”. It provides simple solutions by living in harmony to juggle everyday priorities, reduce stress, eat well, and save money, with lessons on the importance of downtime, being outdoors and Sweden’s coffee break culture.

Jatuhnya, Lagom menurut saya lebih pada keseimbangan hidup dalam mencapai kesejahteraan batin. Banyak orang di luar sana berpendapat, bahwa orang-orang Swedia senang dengan lingkungan hidup dan keberlanjutan, seperti Greta Thunberg, anak muda yang aktif menyuarakan Friday for Future demi keberlanjutan bumi. Saya merasakan itu betul sekali.

Swedish people like balance in all aspects, for example recycling, they love their nature and they keep their environment clean from trash. So recycling trash has become a habit and part of their life.  As I mentioned, they love their nature, they want to keep their nature preserved and clean from trash and grow their own food. 

Di Indonesia, untuk melihat nyata filosofi Lagom dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, bisa kita lihat di produk-produk yang ditawarkan di IKEA. Orang-orang Swedia memang begitu adanya membangun alam lewat produk-produk mereka yang simpel. Swedish people like to “build”. It’s in their nature.

So Ikea is one of their concepts in life, Ikea is great innovation and also affordable. I also like Ikea, they made us think and to be creative to resemble our own purchase.

It’s common here to see Ikea products in all houses because it is affordable. They also like to build their own house and garden by hand, they do it by themselves for years. 

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Speaking of Lagom, it’s all about a balanced lifestyle. Exercise while being fit is important for everybody due to keeping your mind healthy from work stress, specially with long winter time, it’s easy to get depressed just by staying at home, so being more active is important. 

By living lagom you can:

Improve your work-life balance

Free your home from clutter

Become a more conscious consumer

Savor good food the Swedish way

Enjoy healthy exercise in nature

Live a happier and more balance lifestyle

Lagom memang hal yang baru buat saya, yang dulu sibuk bekerja sebelum tinggal di Swedia. Namun di sini, kita harus bisa hidup dalam harmoni dan banyak melakukan aktivitas outdoors, bahkan hanya sekedar “Fika”, kebiasaan orang-orang Swedia untuk menikmati istirahat sembari minum kopi.

Lagom or balance is applied to their life, such as work balance, personal life balance too.They also have Fika habits at the workplace, like in my workplace, we have in a day 2 times fika time, 1 time quick break (elva fika), and lunch break.

I didn’t have this in Indonesia, but here it is important to have fika, so you don’t work all the time and get stressed but you also have balance to do break/fika. These are only a few examples.

Awalnya, saya merasa tidak mudah juga beradaptasi dengan budaya di Swedia. Boleh dibilang ini seperti crossed culture buat saya. 

Tantangan saya tinggal di Swedia seperti Bahasa Swedia yang tidak mudah dan bagaimana beradaptasi untuk menyesuaikan budaya kerja orang-orang Swedia sendiri. 

In a relationship, man and woman they are equal, they share home chores and even financially and take care of children equally. Orang Swedia amat menjunjung kesetaraan gender antara laki-laki dengan perempuan.

Ada sejarahnya di mana laki-laki dan perempuan, sama-sama punya andil dalam membangun negara Swedia. Women and men are equal here. And I see many women here are more independent than women in Asia. They try to build this culture and values from a long way to make women have equal rights from men. 

Ada yang menarik ketika tinggal di Swedia. Banyak orang berpendapat, orang Swedia cenderung pemalu. Itu betul, mungkin tidak mudah juga buat mereka membangun komunikasi dengan orang asing. Most yes, but not everyone. Its common here to see Swedish people don’t show their expression or emotion, they are very well reserved, but after 2 or 3 drinks they will talk and become friendly hahahhahaha…..

Ini tipsku terhadap orang-orang Swedia: Respect and be nice are the basic fundamentals to make friendship or engage with people”. Never afraid to say Hello first and smiling as Indonesian identity. You need to speak up if things are slow or incorrect. Buat kalian yang tidak bisa Bahasa Swedia, no worries. Mereka bisa Bahasa Inggris dengan baik.

You need to learn the language so you can communicate with Swedish people who can not speak English, also it helps you to find an easy job.

Menurut saya, orang Swedia cenderung menghindari konfrontasi. They avoid confrontation, yes, but it’s not common for Swedish people to show expression or emotional feelings, most of them are very reserved people.  Hal menarik lainnya adalah bagaimana mereka menempatkan anak-anak mereka di keranjang bayi, meskipun itu adalah musim dingin.

Mungkin kita berpikir, anak-anak akan masuk angin dibiarkan ditaruh dalam keranjang bayi di luar, tetapi tidak untuk mereka. Additionally, in Sweden you will see many men/fathers taking their babies out with strollers to park or out to nature and that’s a common view here. 

The last, Sweden is a beautiful country no matter what the season is, alot to explore and to learn from it. Ini saran saya kalau ingin memahami negara Swedia umumnya. You need to learn patience because sometimes the Swedish system is very slow.

You need to understand that you live in a different country and life, so respect locals and respect their system and culture. It’s a big challenge but also an adventure, especially for young people to study here. It’s a big opportunity to learn a lot of new things, don’t keep closed minded but be open, always give respect and enjoy the ride even with the long winter time. Hope it informs!

Penulis: Kiki, tinggal di Swedia dan dapat dikontak via akun IG: little_monkey2016