Years ago, I read about “JOMO”, the Joy of Missing Out, as a travel trend.

Back then, it felt like a nice idea. Now it feels like a necessity.

The quiet luxury of being offline is something I had almost forgotten.

When I was a child, this wasn’t a trend. It was just life. No one spoke about disconnecting because we were never that connected to begin with.

Now, we live in a constant pull to check, scroll, post, and comment. You only really notice it when you don’t have a choice, when there’s no electricity, or no way to “just quickly check”.

Finns understand this well.

The tradition of escaping to a mökki (cottage) often without electricity isn’t about going somewhere. It’s about stepping away.

At least once a year, we pack up the cats and the dog, take our canoe, and disappear for a few days to a small island in a national park. And still, the first morning offline feels strange. Almost unsettling, like you’ve forgotten something important.

Maybe that’s why the Italian idea of “dolce far niente” (the sweetness of doing nothing) feels so radical. Simple in words, harder in practice.

Disconnect to reconnect with nature.

And silence stops feeling empty.

Time indeed slows down.

Pets understand this instinctively. Watching them free in nature is a reminder of how simple presence really is. They just exist, fully.

Choosing silence becomes almost uncomfortable these days. But also, necessary.

Because the richest moments are often the quietest ones: the first dip of the year, sunlight warming your face, a dog resting beside you, cats curled up close, birds chirping around you, the sound of nothing urgent.

Maybe that’s the real luxury now, the ability to disconnect 🧡

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