One woman was so enthralled in the active lifestyle in the city, that she came back to the US with a new sense of life and a determination to be more active with her movements
A woman has been completely transformed after visiting the happiest city in the world. Leila Najafi has committed to being more active and more positive with her outlook on life following the trip, in a huge shake-up to her way of living beforehand.
Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is consistently ranked the highest in terms of resident satisfaction and overall happiness. Much like Amsterdam, the city sees people getting around on bikes as opposed to cars that clog up the roads.
As well as this, the city is incredibly walkable with a real sense of community. As a result, the things that American Leila saw for herself left her wanting to take similar values back to the US with her.
Revealing all in an article on Business Insider, she said that she had gone on a solo trip to the Danish capital for one week. There, she admitted that she fell in love with the more active lifestyle and how locals get to benefit from the mass tourism in the city.
Explaining her newfound love of cycling, Leila said that she was stunned to see more bikes than cars on the streets, adding that she was even more perplexed to see “swarms of cyclists in business attire” heading to work. She was also incredibly impressed with the numerous pedestrianised streets that run through the capital.
Throughout her trip, Leila admitted that she was able to do a minimum of 10,000 steps a day — a huge feat for her, given her living in Los Angeles, where a car is needed to go almost anywhere. But since returning to America, Leila has opted to change her way of life to be more like the Danes, saying: “Since I returned, I’ve begun making a conscious effort to walk or bike for errands or coffee runs whenever possible.”
She was also blown away by the country’s cuisine, which relies a lot more on fresh, local ingredients and a focus on seafood, as opposed to the typical burgers and fries that are on offer in the US.
As a result, she is now actively cooking with fresh and local ingredients that she can find at her local farmers market each week. And it was not just the food, but the overall Nordic culture that took Leila by surprise, as she was shocked to see the abundance of saunas across the city.
Saunas are a great way to have a communal catchup with residents, while offering a variety of benefits such as improved blood circulation and muscle relaxation. Looking back on her stints in the sauna in Copenhagen, Leila remarked: “I enjoyed experiencing varying warm temperatures of saunas and thermal baths, and even tried a cold plunge during my trip — though I didn’t last long.”
On top of all of this, Copenhagen is an incredibly sustainable city, working to reduce its carbon footprint by helping to recycle everything from the big to the small. This is also compounded in the multi-purpose buildings that are scattered around the city, including a waste disposal plant that doubles up as a ski slope.
But the major change to her life was to be more minimalist, in line with the Danish mindset and in complete contrast to the “excessive” way of the US. She admitted that she was inspired by the cleanliness of the city and tried to implement this in her own life when she got back.
“I left truly believing this emphasis on intentional living can help people develop a deep sense of contentment and gratitude while fostering a higher quality of life,” she explained. “When I returned from my trip, I decluttered as much as I could, keeping only things I had used within the last six months and donating almost everything else.”
