Lifestyle Trends the New You Can Try in 2017
- Hannah Markus
- Dec 31, 2016
- 4 min read
As a new year approaches, it’s time to make some resolutions, and improve on the Old You. We’ve scoped out the hottest lifestyle trends that will ensure that 2017-you will be the best version of yourself, so take your pick.
1. Hygge
Danish people are so tall and blonde and sexy, and now they’re all about living your life constantly as if it’s Boxing Day? Well make me some smørrebrød and call me Freja because I’m Danish now. The term ‘hygge’ is generally translated into English as ‘cosiness’, coming from the Norwegian word for ‘wellbeing’. Knitted socks and a mug of hot chocolate whilst sitting by the fire? That’s so hygge. Curling up with Netflix, a fuzzy blanket, and a cat called Hamish? Hygge exemplified. You can even put on a scarf as big as your duvet and crunch some leaves underfoot whilst wearing that bobble-hat you bought because it definitely makes you look like Kendall in that episode of Keeping Up With The Kardiashians where they all go skiing, because guess what? You can be hygge outside too! Maybe the best thing about hygge is that it’s just so instagrammable because of #aesthetics! Just make sure that everything you do is adorable. Read a book with your toes tucked up underneath you, even if you’re on the tube. Wear a gorgeous thick quilted coat despite the fact that it’s not quite cold enough and you’re actually really, really sweaty. Hold your coffee mug with two hands curled tightly around the scalding ceramic and breathe ‘Ahhhh’ after every sip, because you might irritate everyone else in the office but it’s honestly just integral to the hygge lifestyle.
2. Going Off The Grid
You can probably tell that we at The Indifferent Times are pretty woke when it comes to The System. I myself once made a poignant statement about how we’re all so dependent on this constant need to stay CONNECTED and deleted Facebook for a summer. Anti-establishment sentiment is higher than ever, and some people are deciding to escape. You can simply take yourself off of social media in order to create a personal mystique that isn’t really there, or you can go the whole hog and remove yourself from civilization entirely. Generate your own electricity and running water. Build a log cabin and grow and hunt for your own food, and use natural remedies for ailments. Obviously make sure you watch every single episode of Bear Grylls beforehand because there’s no TV Off The Grid! We’re still working out whether making such a drastic lifestyle change is actually worth it if you can’t update Twitter on ‘Day 4 #OffTheGrid’ and be publicly lauded for Keeping It Real, but at least you won’t have to see any more Harambe memes.
3. Holistic Consumerism
Possibly the wankiest name for a lifestyle trend ever to exist, this one’s for those of you who feel guilty about your longing for material goods. What do you do when you disagree with the way that the consumerist culture of global capitalism is draining the earth of its resources and exploiting workers in the Global South but you really want to buy makeup and a new sound system and a new summer wardrobe? You can tell Jenny from Book Group that you’ve found the answer! You know that our need for ‘things’ is damaging the world, but heck, you’re just addicted to your little comforts, so you’re making sure that your products make you feel good in your mind, body, and soul. A number of brands are offering transparency in their sourcing, production process, wages, and environmental impact. Businesses that don’t hurt the environment and support social issues make people feel good about what they’re buying. Of course an ethically produced armchair costs more than a new car, but every time you sit in it you can feel superior to Jenny, whose recliner from Homebase is contributing to the destruction of the rainforests, the demand for sweatshop factory workers, and the oil and gas industry.
4. New Minimalism
Now it’s not just anime nerds and creepy guys who like to fetishize Asian women who are adopting Japanese lifestyle practices. Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, has popularized minimalism in the Western world. Kondo has inspired a large number of people to move into smaller homes, donate a lot of their clothes and possessions to charity, and keep their spaces clean and decluttered. A tidy house is a tidy mind after all. If you really want your mind to mirror your home, get rid of everything that might reflect any negativity in your psyche. Throw out your antidepressants because you don’t need a reminder of that misery. Donate your entire Breaking Bad box-set because that blue crystal meth looked kind of tasty and you don’t want to be thinking about it anymore. And, if possible, move into a home without a toilet because 2017 is going to be the year of NO MORE SHIT.
If you think that your current lifestyle is already better than any of these trends, then take another look at yourself because it’s actually impossible that you’ve made it through 2016 unscathed. We’re trying hygge because it seems like the least effort.