April 2023: Wealth Affirmation by Bodo Schäfer and the Penultimate Horcrux
April 2023. While lying in bed, I browsed YouTube for interesting videos and came across Bodo Schäfer's thirty-minute wealth affirmation. I was still a bit tired and didn't mind giving it a try. I placed the laptop next to me, started the affirmation, and closed my eyes. After a short introduction, a pleasant, deep male voice accompanied by relaxing background music resonated: "I am a winner because I make decisions. I make decisions quickly and stick with them for a long time. I don't play to lose, I play to win."
I immediately liked it and listened to the affirmation until the end. I liked it so much that I heeded Bodo's advice at the beginning of the video and committed to listening to it for thirty days to become healthier, happier, more successful, and richer.
So, starting today, I embarked on this brainwashing journey for thirty days. After two days, I was briefly skeptical, but after just one week of diligently listening to the wealth affirmation, I noticed a difference in my thinking. For example, my attitude towards problems had changed so much that I no longer saw them as burdens but as opportunities to grow and learn. Every problem that arose brought me joy, as if I were a masochist. One day, while listening to the affirmation, I somehow thought of World of Warcraft. I imagined a problem like a raid boss. Defeating the raid boss always brought rewards in the form of better equipment. Once I defeated him, I looted better equipment to tackle even stronger raid bosses. I saw every problem as a reward that allowed me to grow personally.
I also began to feel rich. Previously, I considered someone wealthy if they had a million in the bank. But since I regularly listened to the affirmations, I realized that I was already rich. I didn't have to work for my income daily and had around-the-clock time available. This freedom made me rich. Now, I internalized my wealth so intensely, which made me feel even more content and grateful in my life.
I had also changed my view of my fears. I no longer saw them as something that holds me back and paralyzes me, but as an opportunity to grow personally. Fear is a friend who tells me, "Here is the limit of your comfort zone. Cross it if you want to grow personally."
The Penultimate Horcrux
April 2023. A Sunday. This morning, I woke up just before ten o'clock, full of excitement for karate training, especially because I hoped to see Jule today. On the way to Kreipe Coffee Time, I instinctively reached for my phone to see if Jule had responded to my message from yesterday and if she would join us. But there was still no response from her. A pang of disappointment shot through me, and I decided to call her. She didn't pick up. Perhaps she didn't feel like going to karate today and stayed in bed. I hesitated for a moment and then decided to make a U-turn. Instead of rushing to karate, I settled in the café to continue creating my English formula collection. As the scent of fresh coffee caressed my senses and I sat down with my laptop, I dared to take one last look at my phone. Finally, Jule's words lit up on the display: "My phone was on silent. I'm on my way to karate, on the bus."
"Oh, too bad," I thought and asked her, "Do you want to grab a coffee together today?"
The hours passed as I immersed myself in a book called "Thinking, Fast and Slow" at Opernplatz. Eventually, I decided to call her again. But once again, the call went unanswered.
After reading, I headed to Rewe at Steintor to buy Nutella and toast. As I left the store and glanced at WhatsApp, the long-awaited message from Jule finally arrived: "No, I don't want to."
It was a brief, emoji-free response that made me think. I felt like someone needy chasing after their ex without having their interest reciprocated. I paused for a moment. Then I clicked on Jule's contact and deleted it. I wasn't yet brave enough to delete our chats, which represented a reminder of her. But after a walk home, just before entering, I decisively took out my phone and deleted all our chats - the penultimate Horcrux of our relationship.
The Baking Soda Deodorant Experiment
April 30, 2023. On a sunny Sunday, I got up around nine o'clock and went into town. In the cozy café at the train station, which was always open, I sat down to continue working on my English formula collection. The warm sun shone directly on my face through the large windows. I enjoyed my coffee and felt happy in this moment.
Suddenly, my phone rang. It was Tobi.
"Hey Sascha. We're on our way to the spring festival. Do you want to come?"
"Hey there! Sure, why not."
"How long will it take you to get to Maschsee? We're almost there."
"Not long. I'm currently sitting in the café and will head towards Maschsee shortly."
"Alright, see you soon."
"See you later!"
I packed my laptop into my backpack and headed to Maschsee. When I arrived, the spring festival was just opening its doors. Shortly after, Dascha, Tobi, and Lauri also arrived. Together, we strolled through the fair. The enticing smells tempted us to have fries. I tried churros and bubble tea for the first time. The texture of the bubble tea didn't appeal to me, but the churros were quite delicious - especially because they satisfied my still lingering craving for fries.
After the fair, we spent half an hour pedaling a paddle boat on Maschsee. The spring festival was loud, colorful, and hectic. Carnivals are not usually my preferred place, but the time with my family, the delicious fries, and the paddle boating outweighed the drawbacks.
After paddle boating, I said goodbye to the three of them and took a little stroll through the old town before walking home. By the time I arrived, the afternoon was already coming to an end. I made myself four slices of toast with cream cheese, topped with bell pepper, cucumber, garlic, and cheese. For dessert, I made two slices of toast with Nutella. Although we had a toaster in the flat, I decided not to use it to get used to managing without it.
While I ate, I looked at my roll-on deodorant. Taking a short break from eating, I picked up the deodorant, unscrewed the cap, and smelled it. It had a wonderful orange scent. I loved citrus scents and always bought deodorants with orange or lemon fragrance. I thought of trying out a tip I had recently seen in a YouTube video: using baking soda with coconut oil as deodorant. However, since I didn't have coconut oil, I decided to try it with just baking soda. I knew that baking soda is a perfect odor-neutralizer, so I thought it might work just as well against sweat odor. I went to the bathroom, took off my T-shirt, and washed my armpits with soap first. Then I fetched my jar of baking soda from the bathroom cabinet, put a small amount on my damp hand, and rubbed the granular substance into my armpits.
"Curious to see how well it works," I whispered as I sniffed the odorless armpit.
If it actually worked, it would be a great change. Unlike conventional deodorant, I could buy baking soda unpackaged at the LoLa store and use it for various purposes: as an odor neutralizer for armpits and mouth, as a scrub, for household cleaning, and many other things. How interesting would it be if our society could also do without artificial fragrances? I imagined a woman approaching me, sniffing me, and then complimenting me on smelling good. Yet I'm not wearing perfume, and the pleasant scent doesn't come from my shower gel or deodorant. That's my natural, unadulterated body odor.
In the bathroom, I sorted out the reusable ear swab set that I had once received from Dascha and Tobi for Christmas. I decided not to stick any more swabs in my ears. The ear cleaning set went into my pocket for now.
From the nail set case, I took out the mascara brush that I used for combing my eyebrows. Now there was only a nail scissors and a pair of tweezers left in the case. "I don't really need the case anymore," I whispered to myself. I placed the nail scissors and tweezers loosely in the bathroom cabinet and put the brush back into the case.
I placed all the sorted items, including the deodorant, on the floor in my room, ready for disposal or gifting, if my changes were successful.
After eating, I went through my wardrobe again. I decided to remove the blue jeans. "Three different everyday pants in beige, dark green, and black would be enough," I thought.
Then I turned to my underwear. I had ten pieces, two of which were the oldest and were sorted out. I also took a look at the pairs of socks. Three pairs were sorted out.
I set aside my karate suit to offer it on eBay Classifieds. I decided to manage with conventional sports pants in the future, regardless of the sport.
In the kitchen, I thought carefully and decided to sell my round glass storage containers with bamboo lids. They were less versatile and harder to transport, as they could easily open or even break, as it once happened to me in the unpackaged store. For now, I transferred the food into my glass Tupperware containers. I brought all the storage containers to my room and placed them on the floor.
As I looked at the discarded items, I was amazed at how much more could go. During the last decluttering, I thought it wouldn't be possible to get rid of even more, especially socks and underwear. I had feared not having enough clean ones. But the more I progressed in minimalism, the more became possible.
Three days later, I disposed of my purchased deodorant. The method of rubbing baking soda under my armpits worked surprisingly well for me. Normally, I would have armpit odor in the morning if I hadn't used deodorant before going to bed. With baking soda, I woke up with completely odorless armpits. Even after the karate class on Monday, my armpits remained odorless. I was so pleased that I could eliminate a dependency on the drugstore. In the evening, my clothes rack with the clothespins was also picked up.
Learning: When I want to change my mindset on a specific topic, such as money, I regularly listen to a good affirmation about it for at least a month. This helps me imprint the desired mindset into my brain.
Life Upgrades:
- I reduced the number of my pants from 4 to 3.
- I reduced the number of my pairs of socks from 10 to 7.
- I reduced the number of my underwear from 10 to 8.
- I don't own any specialized sports clothing. I regularly practice karate, but I have neither a karate suit nor a belt. Most sports can be done in ordinary sports pants and a T-shirt. This saves me from changing clothes and having to get rid of the sports clothing if I lose interest in the sport.
- I no longer own (reusable) ear swabs because I don't want to insert items into my ears anymore.