Or: Why loneliness goes deeper than not having friends — Loneliness is not the same as being alone. You can feel lonely in a crowd, in marriage, and, of course, in isolation. Being alone is objective and neutral, whereas loneliness is personal, painful, and multi-faceted. And yet, our conversation around loneliness is marked by one-dimensionality and a lack of vocabulary…

A comprehensive guide to (re-)connecting with other people and yourself — A few years ago, on a frosty winter night, my loneliness hit so bad that I curled up in front of my radiator. I wanted to replicate human warmth. I wanted to cry. I wanted to feel something. But there was nothing. My chest felt like an airlock that was…

A guide to calming your impatience and rediscovering reading. — Until recently, reading anything felt straight-up strainful. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to read. I kept buying more books, my TBR had grown like bamboo on fertilizer, and, as a writer and philosophy student, reading is part of my job. …

Guidelines for simplicity that emerged from years of trial and error. — Over the past three years, I tried countless things to create a simpler, more minimalist life. To name a few: I cleared out my entire apartment, lived out of a backpack (twice), went on a pilgrimage, and radically changed my consumption habits. But I also did a lot of stupid…

Thinking (too) deeply about life is an essential human feature. — Every few months, I sink into a deep existential crisis where I question everything — who I am, what I’m doing, the point of it all. It feels like getting sucked into a vicious grinder that pulverizes any sense of purpose I created for myself. Or like waking up on…

In praise of forgetful reading. — Advice on how to remember everything you read is plastered all over the internet. And to me — someone who juggles writing with studying languages and philosophy — this used to sound like the key to the promised land. Here was the antidote to living in a world of information…

After sieving out all the dirt, these three gems remained. — In the past year, I published 72 articles, sent out 21 newsletters, and penned down 1,238 ideas in my note-taking app. I also built a website and started toying around with several book ideas. This is a problem. Not in the sense that I should’ve churned out more content, but…

5 life-changing takeaways from ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ by Oliver Burkeman. — One of the things I love most about this book is the author’s personal history. You see, long before publishing Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman wrote a weekly column on productivity. He’s a productivity geek. A guru. He knows every trick in the book — and added a few chapters. …

Minimalism isn’t a product you can buy but a concept you should experience. — Minimalism has become mainstream. And honestly, it’s easy to see why: With thousands of ads, notifications, and inputs bombarding your brain every day, minimalism promises an effective antidote to chaos. If you trim down your life to the essentials, you’ll finally gain space to breathe. That’s the promise, at least. …