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I've lived in the Netherlands for 14 years—why we're always ranked one of the world's happiest countries (www.cnbc.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I was born in Poland and grew up in Germany, but my family and I have been living in the Netherlands for the last 14 years.

When I first discovered the concept of "niksen," or the Dutch art of doing nothing, I was fascinated. I even wrote a book about it. When I applied it to my own life, my perspective about happiness shifted in a significant way.

I believe niksen is one of the reasons why the Dutch are consistently ranked as some of the happiest people in the world. Niksen might seem selfish or boring at first glance, but it's actually a service to you and your community.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago

I just wanted to downvote initially, but consider this:

a) your premise is wrong ("I read somewhere") b) if it were true that there's some innate tendency in Dutch people to not want to strive for anything, how do you explain their fairly advanced society? c) if it were true, they'd also not have a functioning government

your's isn't a good take