On a Personal Note
Welcome to the second special edition of the year. After the wildly popular portfolio update, I will now move towards some more personal introspection, so bear with me. Don’t worry, the much anticipated bold predictions for 2024 will hit your inboxes on Sunday or Monday—depending on how intense the Christmas celebrations will be.
Orthodox Christmas is also the reason why I am back in Minsk for a few days. You can check out my insta for some live coverage from snowy Belarus. If the weather allows (currently -12°C), I will also include some trips to the provinces—which are always a highlight for the post-Soviet connoisseurs. Obviously, I won’t write about the travel part and will therefore mainly focus on the nice parts of Minsk while I’m here. The ex-post reflections on Belarus are better done from a distance lol
In any case, I hope you had a productive start to 2024. Because Daron Acemoğlu certainly did have one:
Annual Review
I have done some extensive Annual Reviews over the last couple of years; however, I feel like this would be a silly thing to do for the last year. Because after the earthquake(s) in Gaziantep on 06 February, every other incident or experience of 2023 feels like a triviality. I am sure that this might sound pathetic; but I really don’t want to lose this sense of gratefulness for having been spared and for surviving this tragedy. Many in the area (unfortunately) didn’t have the same fortune. This means that I don’t want to crowd out that experience for the sake of some self-improvement stuff.
Those minutes of hell breaking loose and the subsequent days of displacement in various shelters will remain for me forever. Sometimes I still go back to the text messages I sent to my family and friends that morning. It still astonishes me how sober I was in my assessment of the situation right after—despite all the shock and lack of any information. I guess, one’s self truly reveals itself in such situations of crisis.
Also, thanks to the community of my readers who sent me so many kind and heart-warming E-Mails throughout these dire weeks in February. I might not have answered all of them; but they remain in my inbox. Just as a reminder.
Let’s hope that my Annual Review for 2024 will be more upbeat than this.
Focus Areas 2024
As indicated in last year’s focus areas, I spent a lot of time on geopolitics. As we all know that means in my case that I really went down the rabbit hole. And while I am quite happy with the progress that I made in such a short time, this fixation came at the expense of other things. For example, I could only modestly advance on the Orthodoxy front (I’m counting here on my dear friend Kaj to help me more with that) and pushed Strauss and Oakeshott to…well, maybe another lifetime (jk, I might do a reading circle on these thinkers at one point, just not now). This year I opted for more prudence in the selection of my focus areas:
Fiction & Poetry: My friend Gemma recently told me that I’m reading way too much non-fiction. And I guess she is right. One might say that I’m a voracious reader but I seldom read for its own sake. Most of the books that I touch, I don’t even finish. I extract the bits and pieces that I need—and then toss them away. And that is maybe the reason why reading feels like work these days. So, next year I want to allow myself more “me time” with a good novel or a good poem. Make sure to drop me your recommendations!
Byung-Chul Han: I mentioned this in one of my newsletters some weeks ago: I find much of Han’s thought surprisingly close to my own (somewhat Laschian) critique of contemporary society. Even though reddit boards might make you think that he is a midwit thinker, I still think he is worth a deep dive. Moreover, he seems just like the right thinker to reinvigorate my interest in the obscurities of the Frankfurt School, Hegel, and Heidegger. And that’s kind of what I need at the moment. I can’t spend another year down in the trenches of niche analytic philosophy and (God forbid!) the deconstruction of Julius Evola and Alexander Dugin.
History: I admit, this sounds like a dumb category. But hear me out. History has always been the subject that I feel the least drawn to. And I cannot really explain why. Maybe it’s because I tend to think in ideas and concepts rather than in timelines. Also, it is not that I have not tried. Over the years, I have read quite a lot about the history of Germany (obv, a lot of my work is to guide foreigners through their German experience), Eastern Europe, and Russia. Yet, it doesn’t feel like this equipped me with a holistic perspective on world history. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not searching for one of those books that they sell at airports. I rather attempt to add some more specialized history readings to my schedule. Again, I would be thankful for some good recommendations, ranging from the Greek & Romans to country-specific history books.
Goals 2024
On the goals and resolutions front, I failed miserably last year. I didn’t complete a single goal that I set for myself. And that can only mean one thing: “Be better, Sven!”
Well, I’m not sure any of these goals will make me better; but I set them for myself nevertheless:
Building a Base: I have moved 20+ in the last 10 years. This is too much. Because these were not just easy moves from one part of the city to another. No! These were often monumental moves, like from Mannheim to Taipei/Boston/St Petersburg, from Berlin or London/Istanbul, from Paris to Baku, from Germany to Minsk, or, of course, from Minsk to Gaziantep etc. Combine this with my sick travel schedule and you get why I’m so fed up with living out of a suitcase. This needs to stop. Yet, it can’t just yet. As the Gaziantep chapter is slowly coming to an end, I would first need to build another base somewhere. While I know that many of you might suggest the Magic Mountain in Gummersbach, I am sad to say that this ain’t no option either. Instead, I am thinking about retreating to my hometown in the Southwest of Germany for a while. But before Heideggerians rejoice, I tend to think that Tbilisi or Berlin might be more suitable options for the short to mid-term. Any other suggestions?
Finish the Book: For a long time, Stefka and I had a book forthcoming; however, it seemed that almost every other month a new obstacle emerged. Of course, this isn’t anything new to those who have ever written a book. It seems part of the natural process. But at one point momentum needs to reverse—despite all the negative gravitational forces. As much of my initial material has been destroyed by the earthquake, all this provides me with the opportunity to do better this time. I am setting aside an hour of writing each morning, so that should get the job (finally!) done!
Get Back in Shape: With all the travels and all those business dinners, my weight has been creeping up over time. I guess we all know that feeling: Even if it is just 2-3kg each year, the belly fat compounds faster than MSCI World. And while I’m not minding a good dad bod (it’s kinda my vibe anyway), we are past that point now. In such scenarios, I would usually just retract to keto; but with 200+ travel days a year, this is impossible to maintain. Hence, I will probably do more fasting and pass on some alcohol and carbs for now. My goal is to shred 12kg this year, i.e. 1kg/month. Seems doable. I will do some quarterly updates to stay accountable.
Visit 3 New Countries: Okay, I know that this sounds pretentious and like the most privileged complaint ever; but it has become rather hard for me to make progress on my “Countries Visited” list. As of now, I have been to 80 countries and that means that a lot of the long-hanging fruit (i.e. countries that you go to for conferences, work, etc.) has been picked I now need to be somewhat more deliberate in my planning—as I don’t usually do vacations. Last year, I have been to South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Oman for the first time. Let’s see what the new year brings. (BTW, I’m counting on Romania, Mihail!)
(Disclaimer: Before anyone hates on me, I’m obviously the last person who would take travel as instrumental and would advocate for more countries over quality time. I spent most of my year on the road, so I don’t collect stamps in the passport for glory or some random compulsion. I rather want to challenge myself to see new parts of the world to complete my scattered worldview.)
Peace,
SG