I’m sure most people know that feeling of losing all hope, that horrible sensation of watching your life fall apart while knowing there is nothing you can do about it. In this blogpost I will tell you how I found a way to turn things around. And it all started with a blanket.
We all want to be strong. Either mentally or physically, strength seems to be a quality we value highly. But what is strength really?
What did the Vikings look like? Or, more importantly, what’s the difference between a present day “Viking” and the Vikings back in the good, old days?
The family father is always the butt of the joke. It’s become a rule in the entertainment industry and we’ve become so used to it that we don’t even notice. But it must stop. The family father should be praised, not mocked.
Peace seems to be something everybody wants. It is one of the most common ways of saying to someone that we want him/her to be well: «Go with peace.» «May peace be with you.» «Peace, my friend.» We’ve all heard those phrases and maybe used them ourselves. And even though I understand it is a very nice thing to say, I am never comfortable when people wish me peace.
The Scandinavian summer is the time of the Viking festivals. During a few, hectic months, Viking reenactors and craftsmen come together at various places to trade, exchange stories and sit around the campfire.
These are the days of the invisible friends. And I’m not talking about supernatural beings here, not at all. Our invisible friends are those we meet through social media. Most of these people we will never meet in person, so they remain «invisible». But that does not mean they are not important.
Imagine being a child in Viking Age Scandinavia. Have you wondered what it would have been like? I often do. In fact, in order to understand a culture and a society, I find that studying those childhood years makes me able to understand the whole culture far better. After all, we all start out as children.
I always wanted to be a writer. I don’t think I ever doubted or questioned that I would make a living writing books. Looking back, it doesn’t even feel like a choice — it was just the path I knew I had to walk. I was a loner as a child and I started writing my first book at already as a teenager. While other kids were desperate for acceptance and just wanted to be part of a group, I was sitting in my sound-insulated loft, writing. I didn’t even tell anyone what I was doing during the first 6 years of my creative writing career. Needless to say, I didn’t have many friends. In fact, none. And I was quite happy with that.
The Norse civilization was much more spiritual than most seem to think. And while many still see the Norsemen as savage brutes, no longer is there any discussion among historians and archeologists about the fact that they were mindful about their connection to nature and the “spirit world”, which to them was basicly the same thing.
