Why the Puma is my Spirit Animal for 2020

I’m good at giving other smart tips – and forgetting myself. The Christmas holiday was urgently needed to recharge my batteries, but already in the first week of January I felt as exhausted as before the holidays.

Finding the rhythm between work, family and relaxation in everyday life is difficult for me. I feel like I’m always “on.” Even at night, when I finally have to sleep, but I can’t because my head keeps working. I dream of Photoshop, ETFs and the 50-euro bill I lost in the supermarket the other day because I was so washed after five espressi. My child and my husband are suffering from my stress, which I left at the dinner table. That’s not fair. Flori therefore wrote me two things for the weekend:

1. “Eat the frog”

I wanted to do it for a long time and I kept pushing: My home office had to be cleaned up urgently, because in the last few months I had turned it into a waste cave – to get a clear thought here had long since become impossible because of the chaos. But I need just that: order and structure to focus. So “Eat the frog!” Swallow the path) – the thing that annoys/stress/stress you the most needs to be done first.

2. Drain steam

I ran or swam regularly, at least twice a week. I have to forget how important it is to let off steam, i.e. to turn the pressure into energy. When I went jogging on Sunday morning, I initially dragged my body around the lake like a bag of screws. Every step was hard for me. The winter sun glowed pink-orange in the sky and apart from an elderly gentleman making his rounds here every day with a walking stick, there was no one but me and my frustration.

After about ten minutes, I felt my lungs fill with oxygen and the chest widened more and more. After I once stumbled up and down the coast, I wasn’t just physically better off. What’s more, this haze sticking to my head, like smog over the city, had become lighter. Suddenly my steps got bigger, I ran up and down through the floodplains. Suddenly she was there: my strength. I felt like a cougar in the mountains.

In the Incas, the Puma is a sign of strength, wisdom and intelligence. In the indigenous communities, women weave the symbol of the predator in their clothes to keep the legend of the divine beast alive. The Incas believe that the Puma is teaching us to walk the path of peace – and here I am now: on the path of peace with myself.

The “Puma pacha” jersey baby-alpaka comes from the sustainable and honest slow fashion label Achiy from Hamburg. The part is not only a tribute to my new Spirit Animal, which represents our earth in the faith of the Incas as a deity, but to the traditional Peruvian knitting with which local families earn their living.

The spirituality with which indigenous peoples make their clothes gives Achiy’s products a special aura that contrasts with the soulless parts of the fast fashion industry. Alpaca wool (‘fleece of the gods’) is considered the most durable fibre in the world. Unlike cashmere and merino wool, camel wool is not only warmer, but also more robust and less prone to pilling. There are Peruvian textiles that are over 2,000 years old and still in good shape. For example, I didn’t know that alpaca wool is available in more than 20 natural shades, which is why chemicals can be abolished when coloring the wool.

Social and cultural responsibility, safety and warmth not only for my family, but also for myself: these are all things that are important to me in 2020. That’s why I’m glad I can offer you a voucher code at this time: ” MyBookStylex achiy” you get 20% of the entire collection in the online shop. I wear size M.

[In Kooperation mit Achiy]