Friluftsliv......its first appearance.....

'In the lonely mountain farm, 
My abundant catch I take.
There is a hearth, and table,
And friluftsliv for my thoughts.'

The frst recorded appearance of the expression 'friluftsliv' appears in 1859 in the epic poem of 387 lines by Enrik Ibsen.
​The poem is the tale of a young man who locks up his own house in the valley to venture into the wild in order to hunt for reindeer hide to give to his mother and sweetheart on hs return. He then meets a stranger who encourages him to leave all human ties behind and stay to live in the mountains. At this point in the poem the above verse references the term 'friluftliv'.
​It signifies the simplistic aspect of being and belonging, our basic needs; food, fire, shelter, his percieved need as an individual. Although alone he embraces this loneliness through his engagement with nature.
 Our basic needs never change as a species but we all need human and physical contact with others. A life of issolation as this charachter is choosing, in reality is not the way to survive!
 
(http://norwegianjournaloffriluftsliv.com/doc/172010.pd,f Leirhaug, Petter Erik)