Sometimes a motto for the year doesn't arise from a conscious decision, but from a moment that suddenly feels right. Not planned, not strategically, but out of life. Just like this text: Originally, this text was just going to be a short article (haha) - a few thoughts on a new year, a few sentences on an inner impulse. But as I was writing it, I realized that I was delving deeper. That this motto has more layers than I initially thought. So I took my time: To trace, reflect and ask questions. What was meant to be a short impulse turned into a process with pauses, detours and honest self-questioning. „Out with it“ is not a resolution that I set myself, but an attitude that has emerged. A movement away from holding back and towards more openness, visibility and self-confidence. This text is a personal approach to this motto - its origins, its depth and how I live it today. Without any claim to completeness. But with the desire to share something real.

Ten years ago. A lot of foreboding, little certainty.

How my motto for the year came about

„Out with it“ did not arise from a big decision, but from a quiet, clear moment in everyday life. Not planned, not thought through, not strategic. It was just there - and stayed there. I was sitting at my desk on a normal working day. No annual review, no vision board, no consciously set process. No special framework. Just a moment in which something sorted itself out internally and it suddenly became clear: this is exactly it.

Looking back, it fits perfectly with this motto. It was not born out of the head, but out of action. Not from long deliberation, but from movement. So for me, „Out with it“ is not a resolution for 2026, but an attitude. I've just had the Review one Online conference finished, wrote one last message to my friend and colleague and briefly thought about the usual correction loops. About making sure. To the „Maybe take another look“.

And then I simply wrote to her: OUT WITH IT!
In capital letters. With exclamation mark.

At that exact moment, I knew: that's it. That's my motto for this year. Out with my offers. Out with my skills. Out with my ideas. Out with who I am and what is important to me. Don't hold back any longer. Don't wait any longer. Don't want to make everything perfect first. Just get it out there. There was nothing spectacular about this moment - and that's precisely why it was so clear. Looking back, this motto for 2026 - Get it out feels just right.

Not a calendar slogan, but an attitude

„Out with it“ doesn't feel like thinking to me, it feels like the body. Like a belly. Like an inner yes. For me, it's not about loudly going outside, but about an inner movement. To hold back less and be more honest with myself. „Out with it“ stands for the moment when I stop holding myself back and start to believe myself. To take myself seriously. To show myself. The fact that this sentence triggers so much in me has little to do with this one moment. It touches something that has built up over many years - physically, biographically and also existentially.

Perhaps because this sentence has been with me for a long time - long before it became my motto for the year. The first time I consciously encountered it was in a hypnosystemic seminar (thank you at this point, dear Martina and love Vera <3). One of my issues was my belly. The gut feeling, but also physically the need to pull in my belly, to hide it, to tense it, to not use it properly, to suppress something. Out of habit. Out of adaptation. Perhaps also out of a feeling of not being allowed to take up too much space. At the end of the seminar, the instructor said to me: „And remember, get it out!“ She stuck her stomach out in front of her. We laughed, all together, and also stuck our stomachs out. This image has stuck with us. Perhaps rather casually at the time. Today I know how much there is in it.

Between adaptation and inner richness

For a long time, I held a lot of myself back. My needs. My knowledge. My gut feeling. I oriented myself strongly to the outside, adapted, masked myself, tried to be as correct as possible. As quietly as possible. As smoothly as possible. In the hope that I would then simply have my peace and quiet. At the same time, there was always so much inside me: curiosity, depth, the desire to learn, to understand, to penetrate things. The desire to make a difference. To create meaning. To accompany people. To stand up for justice. This tension between outward conformity and inward richness has long thrown me off balance internally.

Because I learned early on that - apart from my own family - visibility doesn't always only provoke positive reactions, but that it can be irritating and offend. There were often situations in which I felt misunderstood or misunderstood. So I preferred to keep a lot of things to myself. There were also terms that I was only able to categorize for myself later on: giftedness, underachievement, ADHD. Looking back, this late categorization explained a lot to me: why things are left undone, why finishing is sometimes harder than starting. Many things started, many almost-finished projects, a lot of potential that was never allowed to fully emerge and a lot of energy that fizzled out. Not because I didn't care, but because it was too important to me. Looking back, it wasn't an either-or, but a constant in-between. Between what was alive inside me and what had to function on the outside.

Functioning - and the price for it

I had successes. Many, in fact. I have always done good, often very good work, I have functioned and fulfilled requirements. I went my own way - albeit mostly within predetermined paths. Paths that brought me recognition on the outside, but often felt very narrow on the inside. Only today do I realize how much strength it cost me to constantly be „normal“. To react appropriately. To fit in. To regulate myself. For a long time, I took this effort for granted. For normal.

I could do that. And I still lost myself in it. Success on the outside. Narrowness on the inside.

The late classification of ADHD and giftedness - only at the end of 2025, at almost 40 years old - has explained a lot to me in retrospect. Not only in terms of working methods or energy, but also in terms of this permanent high, this functioning. And it opened up a new question for me: What would have been possible - and what is still possible - if not so much energy was spent on making myself fit in, but more space was created for working, living and being visible as I really am? For me, that is also part of „Get out of it“.

Looking back, I can now see more clearly that this functioning did not come about by chance, but rather became more and more entrenched at specific breaking points in my life. The first big break was my cancer diagnosis at the age of 30, which not only shook my body, but also my previous self-image. This was followed shortly afterwards by phases of exhaustion, rehabilitation after a burn-out and a period of intense inner reorientation. Years later, I hit another low point - an experience that brought me very close to death and after which I lived with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This break also showed me how much I had carried, endured and compensated for up to that point and how often I had acted contrary to my gut feeling and my actual needs.

Each of these incisions has pulled the rug out from under my feet in different ways and at the same time exposed something. (And no, this is not a call to always see the good in everything. A lot of things are just shitty****. Period. There's nothing good about it). With every crisis, I've moved a little further away from pure functioning and a little closer to myself. Not in a straight line, not gently, but laboriously, tentatively, often with resistance. The late classification of ADHD and giftedness at the end of 2025, at almost 40 years old, was ultimately not another breakdown, but rather a joining together. A final piece of the puzzle that allowed me to understand many things in retrospect: my working methods, my energy, my sensitivity - and also this deeply rooted urge to adapt in order to remain capable of acting.

In this light, I don't see „out with it“ as a spontaneous decision, but rather the result of a long inner maturing process. A consequence of many years of learning, holding on, questioning and realigning. Not defiance, not an impulse - but a conscious movement forward.

You can't see how stable the bridge is - you walk anyway.

What „out with it“ means to me today

It is about visibility with attitude, about demarcation instead of crossing boundaries, about curiosity instead of control. It describes how I learn to deal with reactions, stay with myself and actually bring things into the world. Becoming visible is scary. Going out means becoming assessable. For someone like me, who has long tried to be as correct and inconspicuous as possible, this is no small step. People like to judge. Especially online. Especially when you don't just show a product, but an attitude, values and passion.

I'm off. Not without fear - but with me.

There have been experiences along the way - both professionally and privately - in which I have shown myself and realized that openness does not automatically mean safety. Not as clear, identifiable guilt. Not as individuals who had acted „wrongly“. But as a repeated experience that visibility makes you vulnerable, that thoughts can be misunderstood, that ideas are not always protected. That you feel smaller than you actually are. I didn't make a conscious decision to hold myself back. Rather, an inner protective mechanism developed over time that said: It's safer this way. This way I remain capable of acting. I won't lose anything this way.

Today, I see this holding back less as a decision and more as a form of self-protection that has repeatedly reinforced and reactivated itself over the years - especially when something was really important to me. For me today, „getting out of it“ means recognizing these mechanisms, taking them seriously and no longer completely abandoning myself to them. For me, it's not about assigning blame, but about recognizing my own inner protective logic.

Today is nothing special. And that is exactly what is special.

What „out with it“ does not mean for me

„For me, “out with it„ does not mean saying everything without consideration for other people or throwing something in everyone's face. It does not mean relentless transparency and “honesty", it is not a call to cross boundaries. Rather, it is an inner motivational call to myself. Especially in those moments when I have inner struggles. When I doubt whether a text has really been read often enough. When I start to question an offer or an idea because something similar already exists or because I don't know whether the world needs it. When fear arises that others might take away my ideas or attack me.

Then I say to myself: Out with it.

I look for ways that feel good. Moments when it fits. Spaces that I can keep - like my blog or social media. „Out with it“ is not a duty to the outside world, but a permission to the inside.

I stopped driving myself - and started listening.

Curiosity, closure and invitation

I am curious to see what will happen if I really follow this motto. I have long dreamed of becoming more visible with my work, reaching more people, accompanying them and providing impetus - for people, organizations and communities. I haven't tapped into a lot of my potential yet, mainly out of fear of the reactions.

It is now exciting to find out what actually happens. What the reactions really are. How much they affect me - or not. How I react to them, how well I can stay with myself, how much I can withstand them and what I learn from them. That's why I don't see „out with it“ as a blind leap, but as a curious movement forward.

And specifically, this also includes a task that has been waiting for me for a long time: finally finalizing and completing my Master's thesis. It can also go out now. Imperfectly, perhaps. But honest. And finished. Out with it.

Not everything is loud. Much is simply there.

I'm not making any elaborate resolutions for this year. Just this one sentence:

Out with it.
From the gut.
Into life.

Perhaps this is also an invitation to you.
What are you still holding back that you've long wanted to get out?

If you notice that there is something inside you - a thought, a wish, a clarity - then take this motto with you. And if you would like some guidance on self-actualization, leadership and personal development, please get in touch with me without obligation.