This week I asked you to leave me some questions for a Q&A here on my blog.

So here are my answers to your questions:

1. What are you most excited about now that you quit your job?

You would probably think of something like „travelling, finding my dream job,..“ but no. Actually for me the most exciting thing is to have the whole day for myself, to wake up thinking „Ok, so what am I gonna do today?“, to be able to go for a run when the weather is good, to say yes to events and meeting people just like that. Before I often was like „sorry, I have to work that day, I need to get up early the next day etc“. So simply to feel free is the most exciting thing for me.

2. What are your self love and self care advices/routine?

Well, I don’t practise anything special. For me it’s definitely important to treat your body and mind well. To work out, eat healthy food, meditate, read, spend time in nature, sleep enough, take time for your passions,.. It’s also important to try and stay away from negativity such as people that only complain, the TV that shows negative news all the time. If possible surround yourself with people who are positive, who support you, who you can laugh with. I know it can be difficult when you don’t have these people in your family, at work or in your class but in this case try to at least spend time with those kind of people in your freetime. It also helps to consume inspiring and positive content in the form of videos or podcasts. Personally, when I feel down, I love to turn on a funny youtube video and to just laugh for half an hour – helps so much!

3. Did you ever struggle with your mental health while doing a job you didn’t like? How did you get out of it, if so?

Of course, I did! On a daily basis, I’d say. I always felt like wasting my precious lifetime, to not be able to take chances, to not be able to unfold my true potential. Often I felt as if I’m only existing but not truly living. Well, I can’t say I got out of it.. I quit my job to save myself. I don’t think I would’ve made it through another summer in this office without developing a serious depression. It’s a time when there is almost no work to do but you have to sit there 8 hours anyway. However, I always tried to do something for myself before and after work, to move my body, eat healthy, talk to like-minded people, consume inspiring and positive content etc. I know a lot of people who get up like 30 minutes before leaving for their job, come home and sit in front of the TV, do nothing for their health and personal developement. I truly advice you to get up earlier, to take time for yourself before leaving for your job so that you feel that you did something useful that day, something for yourself, that you don’t just live your life for the company. Same goes for the time after work: I know it can be difficult to motivate yourself but try to work out after work, to cook something healthy, to take time for friends even if you’re tired,.. those are the little things that will make you feel better and keep you going.

4. What are your plans for the next weeks/months/years, what are your future plans?

First of all: YEARS? I have absolutely NO idea, haha.

For the next weeks my plan is traveling to Finland, visiting some concerts/festivals, moving back in with my parents transitionally, meeting friends, working out as much as possible to get fit, going to the Vegan Street Day and to another of our Instagram meetups in Stuttgart and taking care of the not so fun administrative stuff that comes with quitting your job, moving and traveling.

For the next months the plan is to spend 3 months in Bali, to then fly to Australia for some months for doing some „Work & Travel“ there and to afterwards visit New Zealand – hopefully. However, this is just pretty rough planning. except for Bali I do not really know what to do in Australia, New Zealand and also Finland.

I really want to give up planning so much, to be more spontaneous, go with the flow and let life unfold.

5. Favourite music? Favourite festival? 

My favourite music is pretty much all different kinds of metal. Right now I’m a lot into post black metal & atmospheric black metal.  However, I also listen to other things such as classical music, soundtracks, some rock, shoegaze, pop, electro,.. I consider myself to be very open-minded.

I haven’t been to a festival in ages and don’t have a favourite festival. As long as the music is loud & heavy, I’m happy, haha. It’s also nice when the festival isn’t too big and crowded.. and when there are vegan food options.

6. Are there foods/meals you don’t like or even find disgusting (except for animal products)

I’m not the biggest fan of mushrooms. I will eat them if they are found in a dish but I’d never cook them for myself. The most disgusting thing I ever tried has to be durian, it actually made me choke and I had to throw it away. It was a frozen durian though that I bought in an Asia shop, I heard the fresh ones taste different. I guess I’d found them to be disgusting as well, however I’d try it again, brave as I am, haha. I absolutely do not like cilantro, I’m one of those people to whom it tastes like soap. So adding cilantro literally ruins the whole meal for me.

7. What was the first thing you did after a long time during your first week without a job?

Running in the morning/afternoon and also going grocery shopping in the morning which is way more stressfree than in the evening after work or on Saturday when everone else does it.

8. What about intermittent fasting?

When I started answering this question, I wrote so much that I decided to put my thoughts on this topic into a separate blog post which will be published soon.