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Welcome to my Podcast, where I interview founders and creatives, bridging the worlds of business and art.
My show explores the intersection of entrepreneurship and creativity and aims to be a beacon of hope for artists and solopreneurs navigating challenging moments in their careers.
The Solopreneur and Arts worlds are connected - but all too often, there is a lack of meaningful exchange between the sectors.
By learning from those who have thrived at these crossroads, I hope to pass on stories which give us renewed strength for our paths.
With a special interest in the opportunities of the digital economy and the creator world, this podcast deep dives into the challenge of building a life for oneself.
This is me, your host Jim, signing off - by saying:
WELCOME!
Jim
Surviving Pre-Christmas Burnout: How to Overcome Emotional Black Holes
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”― Chuang Tzu
I am writing this on Monday morning.
I had no will to leave the house whatsoever.
When I did, trudging into the cold with the rest of humanity, Berlin bared its fangs, and I felt devoid of the know-how to tame her.
The rain designed itself at a perfect angle to slant through my hood, my jacket not quite sufficiently waterproofed to let you forget your idiocy in losing your umbrella on Saturday night.
Ah, those high, old primitive times. The memory stirs, though you sense you're still caught in its lingering grip.
On your playlist, U2’s “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” comes on.
Uncanny.
Our lives are a series of moments.
Whatever Now is, it’s here.
And yet, when Now happens to be a cold, wet, pessimistic Monday morning, it has a way of wreaking havoc on your perspective.
In those moments, everything you’ve ever done can feel as if it’s disappeared, and all those years of work and what they might do for you in the future vanish.
Yes, sometimes we live in the present as if in a vacuum.
This week’s newsletter explores the tools we have at our disposal to arm us against the illusion our mind sometimes plays on us — especially when we’re trapped in a moment.Let’s dive in.
1. Reclaim Your Sense of Agency
As I made my way down to my studio in Schöneweide, I contemplated my mood amongst the sea of weary, tired-looking faces on the S-Bahn.
I remembered a conversation I’d had with a taxi driver at the weekend.
He’d observed how glum people had become in recent years and pinpointed three culprits he believed were dragging down our moods:
The 24-hour news cycle, fixated on negativity
Social media’s comparison traps
The erosion of community and declining social engagement
What interested me was that each of these phenomena is passively experienced.
It is easy for our state of mind to be dominated by things that are not entirely obvious, making them much harder to guard against.
Therefore, part of our challenge is identifying what affects us psychologically.
I committed to this newsletter as a weekly discipline to help me unpick the modern labyrinth, where one thing masquerades as another. In the wonderful words of Marshall Berman:
“To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world -- and, at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are. Modern environments and experiences cut across all boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and nationality, of religion and ideology: in this sense, modernity can be said to unite all mankind. But it is a paradoxical unity, a unity of disunity: it pours us all into a maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal, of struggle and contradiction, of ambiguity and anguish. To be modern is to be part of a universe in which, as Marx said, "all that is solid melts into air.”
We want to grow, but amidst the competing signals demanding our attention, we struggle to work out how.
Wrestling the abstract is hard enough, but modern society has also eroded the basic tools we need to tackle it.
I write all of this to set up my premise:
It is hard to fathom all the thousand factors contributing to why you feel locked in a moment.
These factors — some from your own life and some from your surroundings — have the cumulative effect of robbing you of agency.
Reclaiming your agency brings a sense of meaning back to your life.
You are not just dependent on chance to change things.
Instead, you are invested in believing that your actions matter.
Today, as I made my way to Mahalla, my mood changed from feeling clotted and stuck to the uplift that comes from remembering this was a good day to be alive.
First, it was good in itself because it was.
As Rilke put it:
"Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final."
Second, I knew that though I was struggling with a bit of end-of-year exhaustion, I still had the chance to gently shape what would come next.
This was not about applying willpower.
My energy was low, so I needed to feed from a different source.
What I could do was to understand the moment I was in, what it was asking of me, and give myself the gift of being present within it.
Here’s the thing:
Agency isn’t about sheer belief, willpower, or trying to manhandle this moment into what comes next.
Instead, it’s about cultivating the self-knowledge to recognize your mood in this moment—and providing it with the right nourishment to foster its growth.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
Ecclesiastes 3:1
2. Notice The Season You’re In
One way I try to improve my mood is to keep aware of the season I’m in.
The season can refer to either the actual season in the calendar year or to the emotional season you find yourself.
Currently, it’s December.
It’s entirely natural to feel a drop-off at this time of year.
The challenge is that this low energy often strikes just as you’re busiest, scrambling to wrap up a year’s worth of work.
These two forces often find themselves on a collision course.
Many people reach Christmas Day completely burnt out because they've been trying to accomplish more in a limited time than they do all year.
Even with my own mountain of work in December, I’ve tried to balance it with my emotional state.
Low energy vs mountainous work is a bad equation.
In a modern work economy that always demands more, it helps to set reasonable expectations—for yourself and your clients.
One way I do this is to finish what can be finished and to delay what can’t.
Between them, you can create a space—a space to fill with what matters and what this season calls for:
Friends, family, and relationships at the center of it all
Sleeping in a little longer when needed
Doing small, joyful things simply for the pleasure of choosing to do them
I am trying to top and tail my year.
But I have long since given up the idea that willpower alone is how things get done.
Your life is part of a broader pattern.
Understanding why and how the needle threads the stitch you’re weaving right now helps you complete the tapestry.
Falling over yourself does not.
One thing that helps me slow down in December is casting my mind to the year ahead.Not to create new goals but to understand deeper how I want to live in this moment.
I consider January my warrior month.
After years of struggling hard in January, I’ve learnt that if I launch into it, I build the momentum that shapes my whole year.
However, giving fully in January means I need to give something entirely different to myself in December.
That does not mean giving up in December — but it does mean giving in.
This conscious decision to slow down helped when I felt my mood low this morning.
It helps to remember that this is the season to embrace the dip rather than resist it.
Simply put — allow yourself to feel what you feel.
Reacting to that helps you move with the season you are in.
It helps me look at my year as a whole and understand that I am happier when I am in synch with the broader pattern of time.
Many of us resist the season rather than going with its flow.
So, if your mood is swallowing you, perhaps you are resisting what this moment asks you.
Why not go with its rhythm instead?
If that means making a vow to put your best self forward in January, then make that vow.
But for god’s sake, live now.
What is your mind saying to you?
What is your body asking for?
Nourish it.
By recognizing the season you’re in—emotionally and literally—you can create a balanced approach to managing your mood and responsibilities.
3. How to Battle a Black Hole
I noticed something disturbing when I caught myself in my gloom this morning.
It was this thought:
“What’s the point in doing anything when the outcome is always the same?”.
It’s a hard thought to share because it’s the type of thought most of us lock away.
Why?
Because we’re ashamed of it — first, we are “weak” to think it, and second, we are not sure what the world might think of us if we do.
We also want to avoid it because we fear it might be true.
This is the quintessence of a black mood.
We use all our energy trying to either forget such a thought or run from the terror that it might be true.
Yet the more we avoid the source of a Black Hole, the more powerful its pull.
It helps me to witness the thought, rather than to run from it.
And then to remember:
It is just a thought.
Yes, sometimes thoughts are like Black Holes.
They threaten to suck our whole existence into them. And it is awful that sometimes, they do.
And yet, our thoughts cannot unwrite our past.
Just because we feel our mood darken doesn’t mean that everything we have ever done is somehow stripped from us.
We have to learn to stand guard in these moments—to be our own protectors when the Black Hole threatens.
Something that helps me is to remind myself that things compound.
When the gravity of a black hole pulls you in, counteract it by recognizing there’s a reality beyond your current feelings.
The Black Hole Does Not Erase Your Past: Your past experiences have already been lived and cannot be undone.
It Does Not Destroy Your Potential Future: Your future remains unwritten and full of possibilities.
The Present Is Yours to Control: The black hole does not own your present; you hold the power of choice to navigate and shape it.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
4. Remember That Things Compound
As the S-Bahn whisked me towards the office, I fronted up to my thoughts.
No, I will not be consumed by you.
One of our deepest fears as humans is believing that the way things have been is the way they will always be.
It’s a dread that most of us confront at some point in our lives.
I consider it a rite of passage - this fear that no matter our efforts, they will not bring the desired change.
On a mundane level, it’s often why we give up—quietly railing at the world that, despite a month of effort at the gym, there’s still no damn change!
This is more dangerous on an existential level.
What it does highlight is that change has its own rhythm.
Sometimes, the harder you push, the more resistant life is.
“Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. By letting things take their course, you get what you need.”— Lao Tzu
It causes us to feel stuck, and this stuckness makes us feel landlocked in our present circumstances.
What we forget is this:
Things compound.
Next week, I will sing the vocal on the 12th song of my new album, which I started writing in January and will complete the recording on December 19th.
The strange thing for me is that, while creating it, I never truly felt a sense of momentum.
What I did feel, though, was a feeling of gradual unfolding.
As if it wanted to be.
For sure, it took effort.
That effort, at times, took me to the gate of inspiration.
And sometimes, that inspiration even carried me.
What I can tell now is that even when I felt stuck or thought the next song would never come, things were gently compounding.
It applies way beyond this album, too.
The work from previous years remains alive in its own way. Whatever the future brings won’t arise from an isolated spark but from the glowing embers of a deeper fire.
In our moments of downness, we cut off from the the living nature of our past.
Modern life has made us all amnesiacs — as if the permanent shock of the new is the only reality that ever existed.
Yet your life is a much broader tapestry.
Sometimes, it takes greater spiritual strength to see it as a whole—where everything has its place and meaning, even the parts we’d rather, at times, return to the Gods.
Yes, your life may not be where you hope it would be. But that’s the whole point:
To be fully present, right here, right now—and still know you’ve somewhere to go.
And though you may feel like you are starting from scratch, remember that all the work you’ve done so far counts:
It is part of your accumulated, broken wisdom.
It contains those maverick skills forged in necessity from the dead ends you hit.
It includes the desperate courage you’ve accrued to twist again, even when all the fates were dead against you.
That stuff makes you you.
And when you failed or fucked-up — that’s part of the story too.
You might not be forgiven, but you can have the courage to ask for forgiveness.
And you can confess what you could never let go to the wind, and you vow that you will do it differently — and better — this time.
The greatest illusion of stuckness is believing that we are predestined to be in this moment forever.
As you stand guard against the Black Hole, why not use its presence to throw in those constrictions, those limiting beliefs, those parts of you that hold you back?
Maybe that’s why it exists — not to consume you, but to consume what you are ready to let go of.
While our work builds over time, who we’ve been doesn’t have to define who we are tomorrow.
The past gives us our grounding but the present the opportunity to move into new terrain.
"Sow a thought, and you reap an action; sow an action, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny."— Charles Reade
5. Take In the Preciousness of This Moment
By the time I’d arrived at my office in Mahalla, I had regained my perspective.
The wind chiselled off my gloominess and replaced it with a reminder; sometimes, we must remember where we have been to know where we are going.
I will write in a future newsletter about my plans for my new music.
This moment, though, is about taking a breath on the journey—about seeing how far I’ve come despite the difficulty in some of the steps.
We too often overlook this step.
As if our life should only ever be the zeal of going forward.
No, quite the contrary, this, right now, this is life.
To appreciate it is not to try to grasp its fleetingness but rather, to be within its noticing.
At this moment, I am in between moments.
The space between when something is created and when it is released.
It’s a time of unique preciousness that artists too often forget to be present within.
The reason?
There’s so much to do when releasing new material. Recording an album is just the starting point—creating the assets needed for proper promotion is an entirely different challenge.
And yet, this is the last moment you own what you have created.
It is not yet set free to find its audience.
This moment has a special charge; you must let it charge you.
The energy required for an effective release cycle differs from that recording.
It requires considerable energy, and it's vital to top yourself first.
Furthermore, in a world that always wants to motor forward, it is easy to forget that living happens in the noticing itself.
With all the ways that our mood is swayed this way and that, it is easy to live always on fast forward.
Its antidote is awareness itself.
It doesn’t require that you stop, but it does require that you notice.
The reason why burnout is so prevalent nowadays is that courage is always associated with deeds only.
I rather see courage as the antithesis of what everyone else is doing: the courage to stop, notice, and introject.
The woodcutter who chops the most wood is not the one who never stops.
It is the one who takes the time to sharpen the blade each day.
6. Guard What’s Most Important
This morning, I was expecting feedback from a client about a short film.
It didn’t arrive in my inbox, so I thought I would jump-start my week by writing this newsletter.
I love writing because it forces you to witness your thoughts.
If you are going to deceive yourself, it’s pointless.
I am disturbingly honest in this newsletter — because if I cannot be with myself, I cannot be with you.
While I love writing, it often presents challenges—whether it’s carving out the time or finding the flow.
Regardless, it makes you hyper-aware of the ideas that interest you and the questions your life raises.
If you can work through those challenges, you often uncover something that could be helpful to someone else.
I write about it because, whether or not I feel in the mood to write, it forces me to actively investigate life.
That’s how I upturn stones.
And develop my perspective.
The paradox of this discipline is in what it teaches you to do—and not to do.
In a world flooded with 24-hour negative news and constant reminders of what we lack, discipline becomes your strongest defence.
Our moods often sway because we don’t have a daily practice of
Actively examining what’s inside us
Defending our psychological energy from outside bombardment
Combine those two, and you create a release valve.
Waking up in a black hole today wasn’t inevitable—it resulted from an intensely busy period where I faced and overcame daily challenges.
The mood came for a reason.
I had entered a new period, and after an elongated period of pressure, my mind and body were craving a different approach.
I just hadn’t noticed yet.
We lambast ourselves for having bad moods rather than recognising that they usually come with a message.
Can you listen to what it says?
In my experience, mental health has only emerged through conversation with this part of myself—never from running away.
If you are feeling burnt out, exhausted or overwhelmed at the end of the year, it may be because you are not
a) Tending to yourselfb) Recognising the new season you’ve enteredc) Making space for what is trying to breakthrough
For me, a writing routine is not a miracle cure.
But it is an effective way of ironing out the chinks of my life, deepening my relationship with the world and exploring the questions which excite me.
Remember, discipline isn’t a cage—it’s the guardian of your freedom.
7. Make Space for Gentle Dreams
I’ve had a good morning, and I’m feeling in the groove.
It always amazes me how a mood transforms into something else if you feed it the right ingredients.
Too often, we treat moods as something fixed.
But a mood is an emotion and has its own requirements.
What matters now is shaping the final part of this year differently from how the earlier parts unfolded.
Today, I’ll allow things to come to a quiet close by choosing not to rush them, letting them take the time they need.
The decision not to rush will create a space which, I expect, will be filled with gentle dreaming.
I have a lot of uncertainty about what comes next.
I feel my task now is to let go this uncertainty, rather than try to solve it today.
This year, I’ve focused solely on writing and recording music—and if that’s all I achieve, it’ll be far more than I ever imagined.
That’s worth taking a moment to celebrate; and I intend to.
It is easy in life to fixate on outcomes—on wanting something from the thing you are creating.
For now, I’m letting go of the societal zeal which fixates on those outcomes.
What matters today is the little miracle of something existing that didn’t exist before.
To let that be enough.
To let that be the breath exhaled as I go into this season.
Rather than forcing new goals or fixating on the future, I will make space for gentle dreaming — or maybe no dreaming at all.
Some Glühwein, laughter and naughty rollies — that will do just fine for now, too.
"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."— Alan Watts
8. You Have No Idea What is Ahead
Earlier, I wrote about how things compound.
When in the fickleness of one of our moods, we tend to be weighed down by glumness.
As if the whole world moves forward while we alone are somehow trapped, defying the very laws of physics that govern the rest of the universe.
Yet nothing is determined for you already.
In fact, all you can guarantee is that you will not be stuck in this moment forever.
That conceit is just a fantasy.
Why?
Because you have no idea what is ahead for you.
For me, I take great heart from that idea.
When I look back on my life, I am amazed by the immeasurable chance, coincidence, and variations of fate that have led me to this point.
I am grateful for all of it.
Not because life is perfect.
But because I am grateful for how it is.
As we age, it’s easy to succumb to cynicism or a certain worldweariness.
And yet, you have no idea what is ahead for you.
It's not about blind faith or false optimism, either.
It is about recognising that all the millions of small actions you took led you to this moment.
You are packed with the invisible.
And just because you cannot see it does not mean it does not exist.
As for me, perhaps one of these songs will trigger enough of a wave to allow me to tour again one day.
Now, there’s something to dream.
I have no idea what is ahead.
But I’m proud to feel that I have arrived at the future’s gate, armed with songs forged from fires of my life.
Will they make an impact?
That is for tomorrow to decide.
Will they matter to someone?
I hope so.
For now, as I enter the Christmas period, I’m glad to feel the simple excitement of having no damn idea of what´s ahead.
Maybe, after all, that’s the point.
To be not just okay about not knowing, but to be excited by it.
9. There’s Good Stuff Out There For You
Our moods are fickle, and more so because they taint our perspective.
With so many struggling with mental health, I wanted to share how I battle a black hole.
It is in the nature of black holes to suck you in, and understanding that helps you loosen their grip.
They can be worked on, but working on them requires effort.
The trick of the black hole is that it deprives you of the energy and life spirit needed to counteract them.
So when you’re affronted by one, start with the basics.
Eat to fuel yourself.
Move to energize.
Make space to reflect.
Speak with loved ones, contact a therapist, make a call, write it down, howl it out.
But don’t get trapped in it — or the illusion it lasts forever.
Our minds can be so fragile, but there is strength in you you can’t imagine.
You are in the heart of your story.
And this may be the chapter that precedes your great overcoming — or which finally draws a line under the rest.
It’s not about blind faith; it's about having the courage to remember good things exist.
Why not for you too?
As this year ends, many of us will feel that we didn’t move the needle as we hoped.
But the needle has moved — and those micro-movements catapult the uptick.
"Because you are alive, everything is possible." — Thich Nhat Hanh
What if, instead of criticizing yourself for not being where you want to be, you chose to be grateful for how far you’ve come?
Everything takes longer than you think it will, especially change—whether in our lives or even more so in ourselves.
But that does not mean that spiritual progress doesn’t exist.
Leave that to the naysayers of the world.
You are still in life.
You are still participant in the miracle.
Today, I faced a black hole and spent part of it sharing how I reversed its pull, using it to propel my day in a more positive direction.
You won’t win every day.
But the effort you put into engaging with yourself will, over time, elevate your life.
Finally, I pass on the words of a man who once saved my life and still does:
There’s good stuff out there for you.
Jim