We were lucky to catch up with Korah Kinsley Johansen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Korah Kinsley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I went about naming my first book, and ultimately then my business, very slowly. I had an idea for some sort of hygge guide, but I wanted to live it out first so that it could be authentic and less pre-conceived. I first created it by hand over the course of a full year- it would be a gift for my friend. It had a different name. Once I realized how to create the book and have it printed, I sat down to write the forward. Essentially, I grew up with hygge, in adulthood I parted from it, and I had a deep feeling of needing it again. What was that feeling, exactly? I searched for the right words. I felt drawn back to something I already knew, like I was returning to my childhood, to my home. I was returning to hygge.

Korah Kinsley, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in the woods in the ’90’s- the nearest neighbor was a mile away and the sound of dial-up internet still plays in my memory. My childhood was full of magic- digging worms to go fishing, exploring the woods with my brothers, and lighting all the candles in the evening to watch a movie while munching popcorn. Fast-forward to my late 20’s, I was working nights and weekends, helping others create memories while I missed out on creating my own. College and adulthood had groomed me to climb some invisible ladder and squeeze every nickel out of every corner of life, and it felt unfulfilling.
I stumbled upon the concept of hygge and realized I had departed from that life. I needed to return to it. I began to make changes and set boundaries, to re-envision what success meant to me, and to value contentment. I wanted to help others realize their cozy, content potential, and began to dream up a guide… a book… something…. I slowly put together a rough version by hand for my dear friend and thought that might be the finish line.
Then I became a mother and spent hours being blissfully nap-trapped, during which time I discovered Canva, and everything came together. I named my first book “Returning to Hygge”, as it represented my own diligent return to enjoying life’s simplest of joys. This book provides one weekly hygge prompt for a full year, with lots of space to journal your experiences, record your thoughts, doodle your inspirations, etc.
Later I discovered I could combine my passion for hygge with my love for gifting, and created a curated gift business, naturally naming it the same as my book. My goal is to remind others and help them also return to the cozy contentment of a simpler time. It’s not that things have to be just right before you can feel cozy, it’s that feeling cozy can remind you that things are just right.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the lesson that “contentment” is bad. Being content with what you have doesn’t mean you’re lazy, that you have no ambition, you’re not creative, or you’re not making the world a better place. But it can mean that you’re less exhausted, you’re maybe not as spread thin, you are focused on the things you’re passionate about and you can put more resources towards those things, creating better products and service. You can perhaps be a more well individual, take your time and be authentic. You can still have goals and want better things for yourself and the world, but never allowing yourself to feel happy with what you have or enjoy the smaller moments, where does that leave you?
It’s like a restaurant menu- when it’s eight pages long, can every item possibly be amazing?

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I’m still a young business so everything I do is something I haven’t done before. Putting together a website? Never done that before. It’s not great, but it’s published… resilience. Shipping things? Never done that before. Taxes? Terrifying, but everyone else has figured it out…

Contact Info:

• Website: https://returningtohygge.shop/
• Instagram: @returning_to_hygge

Image Credits

Shawna Vine Photography