'Northern European Li Ziqi' becomes popular! Naked swimming in ice caves, no water or electricity, living in seclusion in a deserted village for 12 years, but making everyone envious...

After Li Ziqi stopped posting, I can’t help but dig up her old videos and watch them on repeat.

The scenes in them are filled with the warmth of everyday life and the poetry hidden in the mountains and fields. Every time I watch, it hits me right in the feels—if I could live a life like that, it would be amazing.

Interestingly enough, there’s a Nordic girl named Jonna Jinton who also lives a secluded life, but her situation is worlds apart from Li Ziqi’s.

Not only does she lack a fan following, but she also gets harshly criticized by netizens for one reason: she’s too “dramatic.”

A video that really stuck with me shows her standing in the snow at tens of degrees below zero in a thin short-sleeved shirt, hacking at a frozen lake with an ice saw.

Ice chips fly everywhere, her arm muscles tense up, and finally, she carves out a neat, square hole in the ice.

I was thinking she was going to fish, but then she pulls out a washboard!

I was completely stunned—this woman doesn’t play by the rules.

What’s crazier is that she hangs the washed clothes out to dry in the snowy wilderness.

The comments section exploded: “Is she sick?” “Does she have a death wish?”

But Jonna didn’t care at all. She just posted another video: she jumps almost naked into that ice hole, a look of pure enjoyment on her face.

I was shivering under my blanket, but this time, the netizens stopped cursing and started worrying she might have a terminal illness.

What they don’t realize is that these seemingly crazy acts are just an ordinary part of Jonna’s life.

Let’s go back to 2011. Back then, Jonna was like most of us—trapped in a cycle of commuting, overtime, and cramped living, barely catching her breath.

Then one day, she found an old photo of her grandmother in a dusty album: a vast snowy field with a cozy wooden cabin, and behind her grandmother stood a gentle horse.

No towering buildings blocking the sky, no noise clamoring in her ears, only the soft rustle of wind through the pine forest—this was exactly the scene she had seen over and over in her dreams.

She immediately quit her job and headed straight to the village in the picture, Grundtjörn.

The whole village had ten residents, and they all came out to welcome her since a newcomer in such a remote place was rarer than a festival.

But when she pushed open the door of her grandmother’s cabin, her heart sank: cobwebs filled the corners, wind sneaked through the window gaps, and there was no water or electricity.

Just as she was feeling hopeless, she creaked open the broken window—

A deer leaped across a meadow as colorful as a tapestry, and the scent of pine mixed with bird songs rushed straight into her heart. In that moment, all her hesitation shattered.

The first year was incredibly tough.

During the day, she milked cows on a farm; when she came home, she chopped firewood, built a fire, repaired pipes, and made furniture.

On winter nights with temperatures hitting 40 below, she slept wrapped in a down jacket. An elderly neighbor couldn’t stand to see it and said, “Why put yourself through this misery?”

She just smiled and replied, “A house can be fixed, but where in the city can you find this kind of pure tranquility?”

To make a living, she started filming short videos.

To capture a sunrise, she’d squat by the lake early, watching the golden light inch across the ice;

To record the thaw, she’d wait nearby, listening to the crisp sound of ice cracking;

In summer, she’d practice yoga among the flowers;

In autumn, she’d smile at the camera holding dewy berries.

At first, she worried about traffic, checking views on her phone the moment she woke up, and even staged shots deliberately.

Until one day, exhausted as she collapsed into bed, she suddenly realized—she was turning back into the person she used to be, pushed around by life.

Once she let go of her obsession with performance metrics, her videos began to gain popularity naturally.

Now, she lives a carefree life deep in the snowy wilderness with one dog and two cats.

As for the critics online? She long ago stopped bothering to explain. After all, life is for living, not for displaying as a showpiece.

Your every “❤️” matters to us travelers, thank you!