From Burnout to Balance: How I Learned to Thrive in the Age of Excess

When the COVID pandemic hit the world at the beginning of March 2023, I was on a small farm near Rancho Queimado, Santa Catarina. I dreamt of returning to a simpler life ever since I was 12 years old. I romanticized living like my grandfather a simpler life on our family farm. But my reality was American Pie: growing up in a suburb such as Coral Springs, having over-privileged and entitled colleagues in my high school, and living in gated communities.

I remember my neighbour on the farm Magali coming to me back then. She told me about a 'Chinese virus'. It was spreading around the world. 54 people already got it in Germany. I laughed and didn′t take it seriously. Little did I know that this 'Chinese virus' would disrupt my plans and change the course of my life. At the time, I was planning to create a pousada or a series of ecological constructions to 'escape the modern life' and return to my roots in nature.

In a few months, the opposite happened. My dream of living on a remote farm in Southern Brazil soon become another rollercoaster ride in entrepeneurship. As soon as the lockdown occurred, for some reason or another, people started to order more of my posters from KURIOSIS. I didn′t have time to sit around depressed or be in an existenial daze, I suddenly had more work than I ever dreamed of!

In one year and four months, my small poster operation grew from three people working at a Christmas Market to over 15 employees working in a 250m2 factory space at Sonnenallee in Neuk?lln. This growth was not without its challenges. We had to navigate supply chain disruptions, manage a rapidly expanding team, and maintain quality control as demand surged. As a businessman, constant optimist, and dreamer, it was a dream come true. But as a human being, when I look back on it, it was a nightmare. I′ve had 3 production companies since 2000 and KURIOSIS is definitely the last.

Suddenly, my apartment, which initially had one space dedicated to two printers, a packing station, and two big shelves, overflowed with rolls and tubes. Life was no longer lived the way you wanted but the way the clients wanted it. And the clients always wanted more—more orders, more emails, more tubes, more rolls.

Scalability is an exciting term used in business. It is an imaginary world where everything can constantly grow. And growth, of course, must always be better. We need to work out more and be more robust. We need more apps, take more classes, and get more intelligent. Our LinkedIn needs more fluff so we can get that better job. We need better photos on our Tinder or Bumble profile to find a better mate.

I saw this photo in my Google Photos history today and thought of this title: The Age of Excess. We live in a time when there are more people on earth, information, technology, and possibilities than we would ever have dealt with. The result is not what we had hoped for—a better life, a better wife, less strife—but anxiety, depression, and an overwhelming feeling.

Through these cycles of extreme growth and disruption in life, I discovered that a better life can involve a lot of activity but also include saying no to many people. This doesn't mean being selfish or uncooperative. It's about setting boundaries and prioritizing your well-being. When you always accept the excess, it drains you. You take what your partner tells you, what the clients want, the employees, and what the business requires of you. You accept so much and do so much that suddenly, you feel empty.

I remember January 1st, 2021. I had two beautiful apartments in the Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood of Berlin. They had been renovated, painted, and had lovely furniture. It was like a scene from an IKEA catalogue. There was also a backyard and a “chill zone” with a hammock I had created during the pandemic.

But I no longer had any friends in Berlin. I didn′t play guitar, go for walks or have any hobbies. The only thing I knew how to do was to work, work, work until exhaustion. And then I felt utterly empty and hopeless when I wasn′t working. This was a turning point for me. I realized that I had lost sight of what truly mattered in life and was sacrificing my well-being for the sake of work.

Today, I still live a workaholic life of waking up at 3am. At times, I feel exhausted at 1pm. Then I realised I worked more than someone who went to work from 9am to 6pm. But I am out and about and energised. I stop working at 5pm or 6pm. But I am in the countryside, in a hostel or a hotel. I run my business remotely, have a small suitcase, and don′t feel any connection to 1 apartment or physical object. Technology has been instrumental in this. It allows me to work from anywhere, giving me the freedom to choose my environment and manage my time more effectively.

Somehow, in this age of excess, in my world of excess information, languages, travels, and people, I found a way to connect to everything simultaneously and not be overwhelmed. The secret I learned is to always try my best, accept things as they are, and feel disconnected from the outcome. This doesn't mean being passive or complacent. It's about being mindful, accepting the present moment, and focusing on what you can control.

This way, we can live a life connected to nature, technology, and people. When we want to, we can be somewhere else, totally disconnected. The secret, again, is curation - the things we pick and how we 'cure' ourselves. It's about taking control of our lives and making choices that align with our values and desires.

And that′s what I hope for you: curate your life, curate your friends, and pick the right things for you.

As an artist collaborator once told me, her carpenter husband always told her kids before they went to school: “Don′t forget to have fun”!