10 Comments

You’ve painted an attractive picture of a rather idyllic lifestyle setting. It seems unlikely that the US overall would ever transform itself uniformly into anything even remotely resembling this environment. We are nowhere near as homogeneous a population as the Danes. I’m wondering if you might have uncovered any communities in America that do approach the sort of experience you describe here? Care to share?

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Want to redefine it abroad with us? 😂

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I live in Germany, and even though Denmark is one of our neighbors, you rarely hear about it in the news. I'm starting to think that's because the news mostly focus on problems and crises - and maybe there just aren't too many of those in Denmark.

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Glad you got to experience this and in Denmark of all places, a perfect choice. Now that my wife and I are parents too (of a 9-month old daughter), we are contemplating taking a few months off and live somewhere during the summer. Denmark is now on the top of the list. Thank you for sharing your experience.

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I work in the US for Vestas, a Danish manufacturer of wind turbines, and have traveled to Denmark on occasion. One of my favorite cities in Denmark is Aarhus.

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Wow. What an incredible experience you and your family received this summer. Denmark just took the top spot on my bucket list. I love the way you ended this piece, Steve. It’s hopeful and optimistic.

Is there one thing you’re adopting and applying to your everyday life now that you’re back home (or want to)?

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can't recommend enough the 'summer in a foreign environement as a family' trip. this is so powerful and interesting for everyone. we do this with both our boys for a few years, so far we spent a summer in Lisbon, one in Boulder, now we're in SF. one way to keep costa under control btw is 'home-swapping', which is amazing in its own rights. anyway, happy to talk more about this if interested.

as for an 'expanded' american dream, can't agree more. hence our work on a new consumerism. "LE NEW CONSUMER" manifesto might resonate: https://open.substack.com/pub/objet/p/080-le-new-consumer-manifesto?r=2cys&utm_medium=ios

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This is so deeply moving and beautiful and freeing b/c it is not any one person’s fault that in America we cannot do these things - our entire capitalist society conspires against it.

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This was timely, as I'm pulling together my thoughts on having "Broad vs. Basic Ambition" (and I know you've written about ambition before).

This is also shows why exposure to alternative ways of living can be so enlightening. Many people, stuck in the cultural bubble of the US, see no other way. They see "success" across one dimension, figuring this is the way it is and always has been.

Alternatives are the equivalent of heresy. But elsewhere, they are the norm.

Question... in Denmark, which do you think came first: the values or the policies?

The reason I ask is I think a lot of these supportive policies (e.g. childcare, healthcare, etc.) would be valuable in the US, but maybe impossible to implement without a societal shift in values first.

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Amazing story!

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