Those who don't let go grow old faster

Books as a mirror of the soul: a decluttering project with depth

I don't know about you, but for us, summer is sticking to the rules of the season - it's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! It was so hot at times that I was really happy about the few cool days. As my son was ill and I was tied to the house, I used the time to sort through my books, which I've been collecting for 20 years now. And although I always preach to my children about the difference between consuming and investing, I quickly become weak when it comes to books. So I wanted to let go of tonnes of writing.

What started as a simple tid-up has turned into a genuine process of self-discovery. After all, books are companions that accompany us through certain stages of life. They remind us of those stages. Yes, sometimes, when you pick up a book, you feel just as you did back then. To put it plainly, I didn’t just give books away; at the same time, I was saying goodbye to times that are finally over. With a great many books, I was tempted to keep them, but a quiet voice inside me said, „You know full well that it’s not about the book. You’re clinging to the past.“ Yes, I’m clinging on – that’s why I’ve been putting off this clear-out for so long; I don’t want all of that to be over.

For example, there are the Russian classics, some of them in the original, which my father brought me back from Russia on his business trips. I can still read them, but no longer understand them; I studied Russian as a second subject and then never spoke it again. Books from the time when I thought I would spend my life as a freelance journalist after I realised that the "employee gene" was not stored in my DNA. There are books that a young woman buys in the hope that they will give her answers, and well, not all of them are particularly intelligent, but they remind me of the flat share I lived in at the time. Books from that intense time when I met my husband and that encounter turned my life upside down. Countless books about children, bringing up children, children's illnesses, children's madness, nursery rhymes, children's handicrafts, children, children, children. That was the hardest. This incredible time, the intensity of which cannot be compared to anything else. Books that accompanied me through my difficult crisis. Books that accompanied my professional reorientation. Books that I read on this or that holiday, on this or that trip, whose energy I immediately feel again when I pick up the book.

Why holding on makes you old

To sum it up – it hurt. It took longer than I’d expected. And it was absolutely essential. We lose our agility, our vitality, when we carry too much baggage. I’m not talking about books here, but what they represent – our past. Those who cling to the past grow old quickly. Life is constant movement, and it remains so right up until our last breath. We would do well to move through it with the lightness and flexibility of a cat. How often do you hear people sigh dreamily, „I’ve finally arrived.“ I always think to myself then, „Just you wait, you’ll be in for a surprise.“ Life isn’t about „arriving“. One moment flows ceaselessly into the next. Whether you’re feeling really good or really bad right now, one thing is certain – the next moment is already moving towards you, and nobody knows what it holds. Be open-minded and keep moving. Don’t say, ‘Today isn’t such a good day.’ Instead, say, ‘This moment is hard to bear; I’m curious to see what the next one brings.’ Don’t write off the whole day straight away; life is new with every moment.

The ‘Chi instead of Botox’ philosophy

Why am I writing this? Because it has a great deal to do with chi rather than Botox. Which woman makes you think of her age straight away? That’s right. A woman who is obviously trying to freeze her age with Botox and the like. Ageing has a great deal to do with the art of letting go. People who ‘freeze’ their faces hold on tight, remain in resistance and thereby hinder their own life force. Chi rather than Botox embraces and nurtures what is. It is a loving and life-affirming approach that supports the flow of natural energies in the body and face. Those who use Chi instead of Botox do not look frozen, but alive, fresh and open. Your life forces begin to flow in such a way that your face can appear even more alive than it did when you were 20. Chi instead of Botox does not attempt to stop time. No matter how wonderful it might be, it is not within our power to stop time. But it is very much within our power to decide how intensely we allow life energy to flow through us. If it were simply a matter of only those who look young being beautiful, Botox would surely be the perfect solution. But it isn’t. For beauty lies in radiating vitality and life force; we constantly confuse these two concepts with youthfulness.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to say how delighted I am that the „Chi instead of Botox“ community is growing. Thanks to the online course, I’m able to reach more women who are joining me on this journey and embracing a new way of approaching ageing. Beautiful, not overdone; fresh, not ‘my face from yesterday for all time’; vibrant, not frozen. Chi instead of Botox!