Nina swapped a management position in Norway for the tranquility of a cottage in Tidaholm

When everything is spinning fast - the calendar is full and the career is moving upward - but at the same time life doesn’t feel right. What do you do then? For Nina, the answer was to break with what had been, resign from her job in Norway, and move to Sweden to do something completely different. Today she truly thrives in her small country cottage, where life moves at a slower pace and there is always room for what feels most important in everyday life.

Nina Nordgaard lived in a beautiful, fully renovated apartment with a view of the Oslo Fjord. She had just bought a new Tesla, and her work as the head of an organization with 200 employees was both meaningful and stimulating. But still, something didn’t feel right.

“I was never satisfied. I wanted to climb higher in my career and at the same time further my education. I had a calendar that was always full. In the end, I just felt tired - tired of my job, tired of life, and tired of myself.”

"I wanted to get to know myself again"

And so it happened that Nina suddenly found herself with a cottage on the edge of a forest. What she would do there, she didn’t know - and that was the whole point.

“I didn’t want to have a plan. I wanted to get to know myself again. I started by working in the garden and renovating the cottage.”

The garden, and the one person she already knew in Tidaholm, came to be very important to Nina. After a period completely without commitments, apart from the chickens and cats she got early on, the friends decided to open a small market garden. Nina also opened a small treatment clinic where she offered massage and various courses. Slowly but surely, she began filling her days with work again - but in a completely different way than before.

Finding her way back to her heart issue at work

Then life took another turn. Her partner became ill, and they chose to close the market garden. Nina decided to return to the field she had worked in throughout her entire professional life in Norway: Children and young people.

“I thought there must be positions focused on this in Sweden as well. I had just decided to start looking when the municipality of Tidaholm advertised a position. I read through the ad and thought, ‘This is exactly what I want to do!’ It was as if it had been written just for me.”

Nina applied and got the job.

“After two days, I felt like I had come home! Now I get to work with the issue I’ve always been passionate about, but without it taking all my time and energy. I focus on collaboration within the organizations, while someone else has the managerial and budget responsibility.”

Returning to the overfilled calendar she once had is not an option for Nina. Even though she really enjoys her new job, her free time has become the most important part of her life.

“Coming home to the cottage is wonderful! The closeness to nature and the connection with the animals are incredibly important. We’ve developed the garden into a lovely place to be. When I’m with the animals, the chickens and our cats, I slow down. They are calm, and that makes me calm too. I have much more balance between work and leisure now - more balance in life in general. That makes me more content with life and with myself.”

Nina describes Tidaholm as a wonderful place to live and work. She feels she has been warmly welcomed and has found her place in the community.

“On one occasion, we urgently needed help from a tradesperson on a Friday evening. I called someone who had helped us with work before and asked if he could come on Monday. He replied that he would come straight away on Saturday morning because ‘We Tidaholm residents help each other.’ It felt so special to be included as a Tidaholm resident, even though I still feel new here.”

This text has been translated with the help of AI.