#67: Nicolaia Rips

"I walk a lot, I bike even more. I eat two walnuts every morning. I pray in my own ways."

#67: Nicolaia Rips

Nicolaia (@nrips) is a writer and senior editor at i-D Magazine, where she has interviewed the likes of Bernadette Van-Huy and stylist Nancy Koté. She grew up in the Chelsea Hotel.

Health Gossip with Nicolaia
Leo/Cancer/Gemini
New York, NY

What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?

To me being healthy is about enjoyment of good health, not obsession. That means maintaining a firm grip on perspective, and instead of buying all the negative malarkey that society (capitalism, social media, your weird aunt) tries to shove down your throat, prioritizing life’s foremost pleasure: connection (connection to your body, your brain, your friends and the world at large).

How would you describe your current lifestyle?

I recently started working as full-time editor of a magazine. I’d say my lifestyle has become a lot more about finding equilibrium and building habits that support my work, whereas when I was a freelance writer I could really indulge, write all night and sleep late, eat erratically, write anywhere. My habits were more a product of my work. I’m still not fully there with my routines — I eat a protein bar instead of a balanced meal in the morning — but hey, at least I'm eating some type of breakfast.

I begin the day by sitting straight up in my wrought iron Victorian bed like Nosferatu.

How do you start and end your days?

I begin the day by sitting straight up in my wrought iron Victorian bed like Nosferatu. Then I consume 3-5 liquids, all with different purposes, some healthful, some psychosomatic, some absolute bullshit. First I have a shot glass full of apple cider vinegar, 2 drops of chlorophyll (why??? I don’t know), 4 drops of oil of oregano, 12 drops of black seed oil. After that I have two spoonfuls of Mary Ruth’s Organics Liquid Morning Multivitamin (it tastes pleasantly like strawberries), then I have a cup filled with Bloom Greens and Collagen powder (lump, awful, powdery texture). Then I have a little bit of cashew Kefir with two walnuts. Then I have a shot of espresso, pulled from my Breville, and attempt to read my fortune in the coffee crema. I also drink a LOT of water, a fish bowl amount of water.

After taking all these liquids, with all their purposes and textures, I feel horrible, nauseous, and frightened. And wide awake, ready to take on the day. Then I do skincare (I love Sofie Pavitt), listen to The Daily and bike to work. At night I do more skincare, blah blah blah, maybe read a little bit of whatever book is on my bedside table, and end my day with thirty minutes of ASMR (WHAT!!).

Can you recall a moment when you became more aware of your health, or your relationship to it changed?

My first apartment freshly post-grad was on St. Marks Place in the East Village, beneath a giant protruding three dimensional hot dog. The apartment was, if I’m being generous, Frank Loyd Wright-ian in that there were no real distinguishing boundaries between indoors and out. If I am being miserly, it was a terrible hovel that ruined my life!!! My bedroom was on the ground floor AND streetside, which meant that I was kept up until dawn by noise from tourists and teenage goths, as well as the pungent smells of Crif Dogs, a hot dog joint turned speakeasy beneath me. Often I would be out, and instead of going home to sleep the ol’ 8-10 I would think, there’s really no point ending the night now, so I might as well just stay out.

All of this served as a wake-up call…to go back to sleep.

The next two years I was in and out of the ER, suffering from chronic tonsillitis, culminating in a near-death experience from a rare disease called Baboon Syndrome, all which I wrote about for The New York Times. I was sober for a year, which changed my relationship to going out and many friendships (if you can’t do something sober, you probably shouldn’t be doing it at all) and all of this served as a wake-up call…to go back to sleep. Now, I’m a terror if I don’t get eight hours. I have blackout curtains and white noise, weed and melatonin gummies and facial sprays. I also only wear nightgowns (I have a collection of flimsy Betsey Johnson Intimates). Sleep is everything.

What’s your relationship to self-healing?

I am the child of a Woo Woo mother so I didn’t grow up taking much Western medicine. She was, and is, a big believer in the body healing itself and passing on healing energy. She would always say when I got sick, “If you can get someone sick, you can also get someone healthy,” and then she would hold me. Essentially, the body heals itself if you help it along, and I really try to pay attention to what my body’s telling me, something that doesn’t come naturally to me (as a writer I am deeply in my own world, and often feel like a brain in a vat). I’m on a lifelong quest to find my body.