Four Possible Reasons Why the Dutchies are Happier Than All of Us

So, What Is Up With The Dutchies Anyway? – Four Possible Reasons Why the Dutchies are Happier Than All of Us

Probably as a result of being Turkish, my first encounter with the Dutch happened outside of their natural habitat, in the Southern coast of Turkey, at a holiday resort while growing up. Until my recent years, my knowledge about this peculiar lot was limited to their funny sounding language, extreme height and ‘Hunger Games’ style queuing etiquette’s (thank you resort open buffets). After that, many years have passed and out of the blue, I was marrying one.

This didn’t happen overnight, I’ve certainly had enough years of experience the field of the joys and the challenges of being with a Dutchie. So, what’s up with the Dutchies anyway?

As I was going through my then-boyfriend’s closet of orange items -which includes an orange shirt with personal embroidery that says ”100% Dutch” in small letters, an orange curly wig, several orange t-shirts, orange framed sunglasses and an orange football jersey amongst other things-, it got me thinking: do they know something that we haven’t discovered yet?

Does smearing some pindakaas on a toast on a daily basis is the reason why they are so carefree? Or does it have something to do with all the Hagelslag (basically just chocolate sprinkles) that they have been pouring on a bread from baby years to well into adulthood? If it makes Dutch kids the happiest in the world, why wouldn’t it work on adults too?

I can’t say I have found the ways to their happier mindset but I have my suspicions.

#1 They wander around the Globe

Dutch people travel. A lot. Because they can! With a minimum of four weeks long paid annual leave why wouldn’t they? Good for the world tourism, bad for trying to find the right time for a get together when everyone is in town and not somewhere else in the world.

#2 They like to move it, move it!

You can’t live in the Netherlands and not bike. Biking everywhere and doing that every day does not only cause them to get shapely buns of steel, but fresh air and cycling is actually pretty good for triggering the release of those endorphins which means: well…happiness! On top of that, who can still be stressing about their failed exam or a bad day at work when you had to bike for half an hour enduring the typical Dutch weather of wind and rain?

#3 They are family people

Dutchies value their family time. In fact, it is fairly common to be unreachable during dinner hours. In this day and age, if you can step away from your iPhone for that long, it has to be love. Also, family get togethers, visitings to oma en opa are not seen as chores but a fun valuable time spent together.

#4 They just wanna have fun

Last but not least, party life! The Dutchies are known for their talent in the music industry. Just take a look at the world famous DJ’s in the world, most of them are Dutch! Having that much talent coming from a tiny country like The Netherlands, it is safe to say that there is always some music festival happening somewhere. From one festival to another almost every weekend, you’ll sure have a good old time.

I may not have found out all of their mysteries yet, but I know I am up to something. For now, I have more important things on my mind: Should I have one broodjes, or two broodjes – for the gezelligheid?