This article was written as part of a blogging program that helps me to not completely lose the plot. It’s one of the early pieces we create simply to get into the habit of writing. By the way, my blog mentor’s motto is “Blog like nobody’s reading.”1
And yes, it feels terribly self-indulgent to write exclusively about my values and perspectives here. But if that doesn’t interest you, you’re always welcome to read an article about our glorious fat metabolism or my approach to biohacking instead. So, here we go.
The racehorse I’m talking about here is my all-too-active mind. I even gave it a name: Areion, a legendarily fast horse from Greek mythology (let’s just say humility probably didn’t make the shortlist of my core values). But giving it a name helps me both rein it in and appreciate it without completely identifying with it or letting it carry me away.
In any case, I don’t think I’ll ever run out of topics to write about. What I might eventually run out of, though, is the patience to somehow do justice to everything Areion dreams up: patience, too, didn’t make the core value shortlist.
I didn’t have to laboriously work out my core values by crossing things off endless lists though. And if you’d also like to find out what truly makes you tick, I can really recommend this tool (just a heads-up: it’s in German but it’s ad-free and great). There are so many positive qualities, and almost all of them sounded appealing to me, but in the end it was surprisingly simple and also quite revealing. Two of my core values, freedom and curiosity, have been with me my entire life. They’re part of my nature and, to some extent, they influence every decision I make (though not always with the most comfortable consequences, I must say).
But the third: acceptance, came later, as a teacher right in the middle of the storm. Only after illness, inner upheaval, and a kind of realignment did I begin to understand what it really meant or why it would even be anyone’s central value. And not in a theoretical way, but directly in practical application. Best way to learn. Eeep.
Acceptance: The value I didn’t choose until I had to
I didn’t grow up with acceptance. I grew up with effort and the belief that everything is plannable, doable, and in some way optimizable. Freedom and curiosity came easily to me. But acceptance only arrived later, through limits I simply couldn’t push past.
Long Covid was my uninvited teacher. I suddenly had to learn to live with a body I couldn’t drive forward. Even Areion was out of reach during that time. Programming? Out of the question. For a long while, I thought that was failure. Later, I realized: that was the real work of reclaiming my health.
Acceptance is self-compassion, not self-abandonment. And this attitude also shapes how I think and talk about nutrition. We’re not fighting against the body. We’re supporting it in whatever is possible right now. And I can’t even begin to say how much my respect has grown for this complex system that makes our interaction with the world possible at all.
Acceptance, for me, means:
Not pathologizing every reaction my body has.
Not measuring, tracking, and controlling everything until all joy is gone.
And sometimes allowing myself to let go of a plan and simply do what nourishes me.
Strangely enough, the more I accept, the freer I feel. Free from the need to react to every symptom right away or to constantly rearrange everything. Free to stay curious without always expecting results. Which brings us neatly to the next value:
Freedom: The value my Body and mind long for
Freedom was never optional for me. It has always been an inner pull.
My mind reaches for it. My body too. I feel it like a breeze pressing against a closed window, because I always wanted to think freely, to act freely, to shape my own life. I need space. Possibilities. The feeling that I could change my mind if I wanted to. Which I do.
And yet…I often feel constrained by the life I’ve built for myself.
Not because I don’t love it, but because it matters to me. I want my children to feel safe and I want to honor my partnership. I also want to create a home, not just a launchpad. Freedom has changed for me.
It’s no longer about being able to do everything at any time. It’s about not losing myself in the choices I’ve made. It’s about micro-freedoms: an hour to write, a walk without a goal, a decision made out of inner clarity instead of obligation. And about allowing myself to keep dreaming even when I can’t act on it right away.
Right now, I also find a deep sense of freedom in giving my curiosity free rein.
Curiosity – a stubborn foundation
So intrinsic that I almost overlooked it. Curiosity is my default state. Unlike freedom, I don’t even have to create space for it. It creates space in me. I follow questions the way others follow rules. I don’t ask to provoke but to understand.
Because I can’t help it. For a long time, I thought this was normal. That everyone thought this way. Only over time did I realize: curiosity isn’t something you can take for granted. Not everyone lies awake at night, thinking through metabolic processes or biological connections. Curiosity was my lifeline out of the fog of Long Covid. It brought me back to nutrition, to biology, to aging, to mitochondria, hormones, healing. Just because the questions kept bubbling up like a never-ending fountain.
Even in difficult times, it never leaves me. Maybe it grows quieter, but never completely silent. When I get stuck, it’s usually curiosity that picks up the first thread again. Yes, it then runs through the forest with that red thread in its mouth, leaping over every log. But it’s so alive and mischievous that I can’t hold it against them. Curiosity lets me spend weeks researching fats and carbohydrates and the fascination of the citric acid cycle until I’m practically bouncing in my desk chair with excitement.
It doesn’t stop at contradictions. It blithely ignores “that’s just how it’s done” and “we’ve always done it this way,” and keeps asking and asking. All I can say is: thank you.
Brief Pause (Yeah, Right)
Acceptance, freedom, and curiosity. These three values aren’t a past chapter. They’re part of my everyday life, my work, and my writing. They help me not only endure the big questions but also explore them with joy.
If you’re curious to see what else I discover, research, and sometimes question:
I’m currently in the process of setting up a newsletter. If you’d like to be notified when it starts, just leave me a message through my contact form with the word “Newsletter,” and I’ll make sure you’re on the list.
Or simply keep browsing through my articles. Areion has probably already picked out the next topic. Maybe he’s galloping across the meadow with the red thread in his mouth, leaping over a few ditches. But all’s well that ends well.
PS: While I was writing this article, everything happened at once:
- a phone call from the after-school program: heat dismissal. Please pick up the kids within 20 minutes.
- a broken parcel with the new (broken) drying rack.
- a lunch that was still only in the planning stage (I was, after all, focused on work).
- and then -to top it off- the cleaning lady (who only comes once a fortnight anyway) knocked at the door.
Her main job is, of course, to clean. But the prerequisite, the side effect, and maybe her true purpose (though she doesn’t know it): she ensures that every two weeks, our house gets tidied up. Mainly by yours truly. So, a last-minute session of emptying and loading the dishwasher, putting away laundry, relocating all remaining piles so the floor is actually visible. And with 38 degrees outside, it was pleasantly warm inside, too.
At that point, my brain also thought: PAUSE. I’m done. TikTok, please.
Like I said: practical acceptance, not just theory.
PPS: By the way, I’m particularly proud of the lunch I eventually managed to put together:
PPPS: I’d also be very happy about a comment below this article (but as I mentioned earlier…I know exactly what it’s like not to have much time or headspace).
- And just to be clear: this isn’t affiliate marketing or any other sneaky promotion. I simply think I found a great mentor, and this blog would probably still be just a theoretical idea if I’d tried to do everything alone. There’s no shame in getting help, and it’s not a waste of resources either. Just make sure you find someone you genuinely trust. That goes for support in any area of life. ↩︎
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