#17: Olga Hohmann
"I take classical singing lessons and it makes me feel alive and calm and healthy. It wakes me up."
Olga is a writer, artist & vocalist based between Berlin and Basel. Some of my favorite pieces from her include “Writing as a Curse, as the Only Consolation” and “Ein Kleid kommt selten allein” [“A Dress Rarely Comes Alone”].
At a glance…
Location: Berlin
Big 3: Libra/Gemini/Pisces
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
As a chronic insomniac, the first thing I notice is if I feel well-rested. But I am also a hypochondriac so I constantly suffer from tons of more or less fake diseases that often also lead to somatic symptoms. I don’t only believe in the psychosomatic, but rather in the feedback loop of the somatic and the psychological/emotional/affective. Maybe there is also such a thing as somato-psycho and maybe even somato-psycho-somato. In the end, I am simply afraid of dying and just wanna live as long as possible.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
I am sober since a year and a half which really did change my life drastically. I was a heavy alcoholic for fifteen years before. I don’t do drugs at all. Sometimes I still smoke a cigarette or two and immediately feel horrible afterwards. I eat very healthy but I hate working out. And I do increasingly suffer from something called “stress.”
How do you start and end your days?
Too often with my phone in my hand. On a good day, my boyfriend and me are reading books before going to bed and after waking up. Recently: The Lover by Marguerite Duras.
What’s your relationship to self-healing?
Whatever makes your boat float. I ask for assistance in many ways that seems to contradict. I do believe in conservative Western medicine, to a degree, but I also started to have acupuncture a lot and I really enjoy it.
Was there a specific moment in life that made you more conscious of your health?
I was at my lowest point, then I became sober. I feel like I have forgotten about most parts of my life before. I was increasingly blacking out. It’s always the unconscious where I want to go.
Where do you look to for information and guidance?
I take classical singing lessons and it makes me feel alive and calm and healthy. It wakes me up.
When do you feel the most at home in your body? The most nourished?
When I am well rested. When I didn’t indulge too much in my very strong sweet tooth. When I cuddle a lot. When I cycle or walk a lot. When I don’t smoke. When I move my mind and brain in a calm and concentrated way. But yeah, cuddling is probably the most important (:
Fuck, marry, kill: three health trends of your choice.
Cuddling, singing, pain (I love certain kinds of physical pain).
What’s your palette like? What meals do you find yourself returning to?
I usually eat out (: I have ice cream everyday, recently: Banana Split (:
What do you think is the most pressing health issue of our time?
Finding a “healthy” relationship to the fact that we all have to die, one day. It’s so underrepresented in Western societies.
What advice would you give to your past self?
Get sober!
What advice would you give to the person reading this?
Not necessarily to get sober. Don’t think it’s for everyone.
Note: this Q&A was originally published via Mailchimp. Read the full issue here.