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”].

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At a glance…

Location: Berlin

Big 3: Libra/Gemini/Pisces

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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.