Former manager Anette moved to the archipelago after burnout: “Everything I want is right here”
Anette Huila, 52, put in long hours in managerial roles and lived in a home that was always spotless. A serious illness turned both her career and her living situation upside down. Both found a new home in the idyllic archipelago.
The daffodils and irises in the old garden of the archipelago home were discovered by chance. When Anette Huila and her spouse Juha began clearing the yard after moving here, they uncovered a gorgeous old-fashioned archipelago garden.
“The garden also had apple trees brought from Seili Island, plum trees, and 25 berry bushes,” Anette says.
Now Anette walks past the trees and heads to the greenhouse with her coffee cup, where delicate seedlings wait to be planted. The fifth summer in her dream archipelago home is about to begin.
In January 2021, Anette and Juha moved to a more than one-hundred-year-old archipelago homestead. The property previously belonged to Anette’s friend’s grandfather, a former lighthouse keeper. The decision to move was a bit of a surprise, even to the couple themselves. They had already planned that once their three children left home, they would move to downtown Turku, put their boat in the river, and buy a summer cottage.
One evening, they sat on the balcony of their emptying townhouse and again dreamed about their future home. This time, Anette mentioned the idea of buying their next place in the archipelago. Her spouse answered with a cautious yes.
“Right then and there, I took out my laptop and listed our apartment for sale,” Anette says.
Ultimately, it took two years to sell the apartment. The pandemic slowed the sale, and no new home seemed to appear—despite Anette’s urge to leave city life being so strong that she would have taken just about any small cottage close to the sea.
After a long wait, things happened at lightning speed. Anette and Juha accepted an offer on their old apartment and found their dream house within a month. The real estate agent was initially hesitant to show them the property, which looked promising and was on a waterfront lot. They soon understood why: the entire two-hectare property was filled with junk from the previous owner’s business. Inside, there was also a mountain of stuff, and a hospital bed stood in the middle of the living room. The elderly couple who had lived there had started renovations but never finished.
Still, Anette and Juha fell for the house right away and bought it. Instead of a tiny cottage, they got a 150-square-meter old archipelago home. The purchase included a yard sauna with a small cottage, a boathouse, and 300 square meters of hall space, where Juha now runs his HVAC business.
“I call this place paradise, because it has everything I’ve ever dreamed of,” Anette says.
I was an ambitious career-chaser, precise, and a perfectionist. Material things mattered; I always wanted to be well-groomed, right down to my nails.
An entire life in the archipelago
The archipelago became not just Anette’s home, but her workplace too. Seven years ago, she set up a wellness company and started offering sound-bowl relaxation sessions, corporate team-building days, yoga classes, and personal training.
Anette has also led roughly two hundred retreats, taking groups to the outer archipelago, Lapland, Greece, and sailing—places she herself loves.
“The best part of entrepreneurship is being able to pick and choose exactly what I do. It would have been impossible when my kids were little.”
About ten years ago, Anette’s career was very different. She trained as a cosmetologist and moved from spa work into marketing and importing. Eventually, she rose to a managerial role, overseeing more than 60 employees. A good salary enabled a comfortable lifestyle.
“I was an ambitious career-chaser, precise, and a perfectionist. Material things mattered; I always wanted to be well-groomed, right down to my nails.”
Summers were the exception. She spent them on a boat, wearing a swimsuit and rubber boots. She had been drawn to the sea and archipelago ever since she was a child. After she had kids, her family bought a small boat they took each summer to roam Åland and the Turku archipelago.
“I used to tell my subordinates they wouldn’t recognize me on summer vacation. While I liked my job, I felt I was only really myself during my free time by the sea.”
I was sure I had cancer. I started drafting my will in the hospital and cried because I thought I was going to die.
A doctor’s visit changed everything
In 2012, Anette’s priorities took a sharp turn. She had struggled with stomach pain for ages, then started running a fever in the evenings. At night she sweated, but assumed it was a cold and took anti-inflammatory drugs, which only worsened the stomach issues. Finally, she booked an appointment with the occupational health doctor, who specialized in internal medicine, and sent her for blood tests.
“When the doctor saw the results, they looked at me gravely and said I needed to go straight to the hospital emergency room.”
At the hospital, they spotted a shadow in her abdomen, and her lymph nodes were enlarged.
“I was sure I had cancer. I started writing my will there in the hospital, crying because I thought I was dying.”
Ultimately, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that can be treated through medication, surgery, and diet.
“Once I was officially allowed to be sick, I got really weak in the hospital. I couldn’t even get to the bathroom by myself.”
She was still working and picking out wallpaper for her future spa, even while hospitalized. A roommate was puzzled and asked her about it, which made Anette stop and think.
“I realized I was back to being the ‘good girl’ who finishes every last task.”
Anette closed her laptop and took a sick leave. Life had shown her how finite time can be. She saw that, in the hospital ward, money and titles didn’t matter—everyone there was treated with the same dignity, whether they were dealing with addiction or self-harm.
“I had to go through that so a major avalanche of change could begin. Until then, the ‘holy trinity’ of housework, grocery shopping, and family had meant everything to me. I had lived more for everyone else than for myself.”
When Anette returned to work after her sick leave, she was a new person. She learned to say no and decided she would stand her ground with others instead of always sacrificing herself. In 2016, she was laid off in co-determination talks.
“For me, getting laid off was lucky. I’d been thinking about moving to the wellness field for quite some time.”
People were shocked when she mentioned her dream of training as a yoga instructor. That’s why she shared her plans only with a selected few. One of them was her mother, who pointed out that the idea was perfect for her. Anette has always had a bit of a bohemian side.
“At first, I thought I was the opposite of bohemian: a strict neat freak who wanted everything spotless. Then I remembered how, as a child, my knees were always scraped because I loved playing in the woods.”
Anette began looking back at that inner child—how she was before people’s expectations shaped her. She realized that during her summer trips through the archipelago, she had been her most genuine self.
Anette believes her inner child led her here, too. After moving to the archipelago, a friend came by to see the house, walking through rooms that were a bit topsy-turvy. The friend marveled at how different it was from her almost clinically tidy former home.
“I told my friend that out here, I wanted to create the kind of home I had dreamed of as a child. Sometimes your home has to be something else first so you can reach this moment.”
It’s wonderful not having to raise kids anymore, because they cost so much.
Never again a boss or subordinates
Over the past four years, Anette and Juha have been renovating their house and yard at their own pace. Anette enjoys making her ideas come to life. She has used plenty of white paint and wallpaper, but the projects are never-ending.
Archipelago life has turned out just as Anette imagined.
“Life here is simple. There’s no sign of trends, deadlines, or hurry. We take things at a slower pace.”
Her work pace is different, too. Anette decided she would only work enough to handle her finances. That’s especially important with her autoimmune disease, because stress can worsen her symptoms.
She loves being an entrepreneur so much that she never again wants a boss or subordinates. She no longer misses the steady paycheck either, since that was more important when the kids were still at home. She wanted to ensure they didn’t have to worry about money and could have the things they liked: brand-name clothes and riding lessons.
“It’s wonderful not having to raise kids anymore, because they cost a fortune,” Anette says with a laugh.
After moving to the island, the couple’s expenses dropped overall. They no longer dine out or get takeout like they did in the city, and some hobbies fell by the wayside. They heat their home and sauna with wood from their own forest, and fish and game are nearly in the backyard. Their garden produces enough potatoes for the whole summer.
Anette hasn’t completely forgotten about cosmetics, though. She tried going without for a bit when she changed careers, but now she also sells skincare in her online store.
She enjoys how, in this life, it’s perfectly fine to wear your nightgown until lunchtime.
“I float around here in my own paradise with no makeup, wearing wool socks—like my own Pippi Longstocking.”
Anette’s tips for a simpler life
- “I feel more confident now that I don’t worry about what others think. I found a new direction by revisiting my childhood. You can reconnect with your core self by remembering who you were before you tried to please everyone else.”
- “Life is precious and short, so let’s not spend it on things we don’t really enjoy. I lost my father to cancer when I was 16. That was my first reminder that life is fragile. I think that’s why I believe if you want to do something, do it now.”
- “Peer support is essential. I had plenty of doubters when I became an entrepreneur. I don’t want people who dampen my spirits in my life. Through my blog, I got the encouragement I needed to feel I was on the right path. With my new career, I’ve also met friends who want to simplify their lives.”
