Don’t worry, be happy. Thetta reddast!

Imagine touring Iceland in winter and your car stops in the middle of nowhere. You call the rental company but they say they can only come in 5 hours but hey… thetta reddast! Thetta what? þetta reddast (as it is written in Icelandic) is the official national slogan of this remote, North Atlantic, island nation. A place where nature and weather make it continuously hard to live. Volcanoes, earthquakes, snow, storms and other elements of nature have never made it easy for Icelanders.

Don’t worry, be happy! 
Thetta reddast is actually the belief that things will turn out to be alright in the end. It may sound rather stoic to some but embracing this mindset sets you free from the fear of or stress for the unknown or for things you cannot actually control. All in all, thetta reddast reflects the laid-back, easy going and humorous nature of Icelanders.Sometimes people criticize this attitude and characterize it as passive.

On the contrary, thetta reddast helped Icelanders overcome so many difficult times in their history. From widespread poverty and foreign domination to the recent financial collapse that brought Iceland to bankruptcy. Still, they survived and thrived, by doing what they ought to do!

According to a recent poll by the University of Iceland, almost 50% of Icelanders live their lives according to the thetta reddast concept. And they certainly do it for good. Not only have they survived the 2008 collapse but they also had their constitution rewritten by ordinary people, to give the power back to the people.

And their football team has shocked the world of sports many times in recent years: Iceland is the smallest nation to have ever qualified to a European and World football championship and their results in the tournaments have stunned the world.

Today, Icelandic tourism is booming and laid back Icelanders wait for the next major volcano eruption to disrupt world air traffic with no worries. Thetta reddast!