You get an invitation to stay free in a secluded forest cabin. Ecstatic, you pack, follow the instructions, and arrive at the cabin. From the outside, it looks like any other cabin that promises a homey stay. But as you enter, you become conscious of your every move. You tiptoe carefully, doing your best to keep the floor from creaking. Every word comes out of your mouth hushed down to a whisper. In the kitchen, your coffee mug slips from your cold hand, heading straight for the floor. But you are quick enough to snatch it just in time — tragedy averted. The setting is almost like the Hollywood hit A Quiet Place, except you are not dodging a human-snatching monster. What you are dealing with is a decibel meter tucked into a secret corner of the cabin, listening to every sound you make. Just when you think you have made it this far and decide to call it a day, you settle into bed and let your guard down. Your partner makes a joke, and you can’t help but crack up. Oops! You hit the decibel limit and PING—a message pops up: “Your stay with Stay Quiet ends tomorrow.” Taking in nature and doing mindfulness breathing exercises. Photo: Visit Skåne A Rule That Brings Peace That was the scene that came to my mind when I heard of Stay Quiet, a 72-hour silence retreat in the forest of Skåne. But Josefine Nordgren, who works in communications and storytelling at Visit Skåne — the team behind the Stay Quiet project — told me that this is not the case for most participants. “Surprisingly, the rule doesn’t stress people out,” Josefine says. “It actually helps them go into silent mode more quickly because they don’t have to figure out how quiet they need to be. Once they settle in, most describe the experience as peaceful and grounding!” Participants learning to make fire. Photo: Visit Skåne Quietness is Treasured in Skåne Located in the southernmost region of Sweden, Skåne offers so much variety into one small area. Beech forests, long sandy beaches, dramatic coastal cliffs, rolling farmland, and quiet wetlands are all intertwined within one area. “In Skåne, silence doesn’t mean the absence of sound. It is more about the calming presence of natural sounds like wind in the trees, waves along the coast and the steady rhythm of walking through a forest,” Josefine explains. “People here value that kind of quiet because it is tied to wellbeing, reflection and the need to step away from the pressures of everyday noise.” The Map of Quietude was launched by Visit Skåne as a guide to tranquil nature spots in Skåne. It is also a blueprint that inspired the Stay Quiet project. “Our mission is to focus on how we present the region not only as a place to visit, but as a place where people can genuinely feel something,” Josefine says. Stay Quiet grew naturally out of that mission. [...]