A Quiet Provocation Against Self-Optimization, Monetization Mania, and the Erosion of Personal Coherence (2nd Edition)

This text belongs to an ongoing experiment: Ruhrgebiet language, diversity, and humor – made accessible for those who think along. It aims to make complex ideas understandable — without losing their soul.

If you're reading along, you're invited – to think, to smile, to feel. And maybe to disagree. And if it doesn’t make sense – that’s part of the plan.

For more information about this experiment, please visit my homepage at https://coherentvoices.de/en/. However, this is not necessary to read this text – it is only an additional service.

I get up in the morning, drink my coffee, and head to work — neither an influencer nor a guru. I’m normal. Not conformist. Not over-the-top. Not enlightened. Simply: normal.

And that seems almost suspicious today. In a world where everyone has to find their purpose, polish their brand, or at least post an original crisis, normality seems like a foreign body.

It is resistance — against a society that is losing itself in the constant filter of self-optimization.

Today, you’re supposed to be everything:

• Productive, but relaxed.
• Authentic, but brandable.
• Emotionally intelligent, but not too vulnerable.
• Spiritually attuned, yet evidence-based.
• …

The list of requirements grows with every scroll through Instagram or LinkedIn. Apps track our steps, sleep, even moods — and proclaim if we’re centered. TED Talks spin tales on how to unlock full potential.

Optimize or get left behind.

I see people breaking down their days in Excel spreadsheets, evaluating their emotions in journaling apps, and proudly announcing that they have found their center. According to statistics. According to algorithms.

I ask myself: Where has the person gone who simply lives — without KPIs?

Coherence means living without contradiction — when what we think, feel, and do are aligned. It’s not perfection. It’s integrity.

For example: I think honesty counts, I feel good when I am honest, and I act accordingly, even if it is uncomfortable.

That sounds trivial, but it has become rare.

Many people think one thing, feel another, and act as it suits them at the moment. This is called flexibility. I call it cognitive dissonance applauded all the way up the career ladder.

Coherence is not a rigid dogma. It is an inner compass. It arises when you question yourself honestly — not constantly, but deeply.

I hail from an utterly ordinary life — no ivory tower, no dramatic epiphany, no memoir-ready backstory. I’ve had my ups and downs, people who’ve shaped me, and grounding moments aplenty.

I have learned that you don’t have to understand everything to stay clear-headed. And that you don’t have to explain everything to be effective.

A conversation with a friend, a walk without a cell phone, a moment of silence — that’s often enough to clear your head.

Living normally today means

• Not following every trend.
• Not commenting on everything.
• Not monetizing everything.

It means knowing yourself without constant reinvention — taking a stance without a hashtag. It means enduring conflicts without escalating them. I am not a guru, not a rebel. I am a person who tries to live in harmony with myself.

And today, that is almost radical.

I’m not an outsider, but someone on the edge — with perspective. No enemy of the state, just a citizen with conviction. Uncomfortable? Yes — but constructive. I critique the system not to tear it down, but to probe it mindfully, not blindly.

Not to dominate – but to disturb gently, with dignity.

I believe in democracy, but also that it needs more than rules. It needs people who fill it with life — with conversation, with contradiction, with coherence, and with intuition.

Intuition is powerful, but it needs humility. Clarity is valuable, but it must not turn into arrogance.

Attitude is strong, but only if it remains connectable.

I am not infallible. I am not omniscient. I am not better. I am simply willing to take responsibility — for what I think, feel, and do.

I’m normal. And in today’s world, that’s perhaps the most radical stance of all. Normality isn’t the antithesis of uniqueness — it’s the antidote to self-optimization.

Those who live normally live dangerously — because they are uncontrollable, unpredictable, and unexploitable.

But they live. And that is enough.

What if we all paused for a moment and just lived?

What does your radical normality look like?

This text was created with AI as a Reflection partner, sometimes illustrator – but never the author. There are no financial or institutional conflicts of interest.

If you're reading along, you're welcome to think – and to smile. And if you stumble: you're in good company.

For more on stance, technology, and the author, see:

• https://coherentvoices.de/en/conflicts
• https://coherentvoices.de/en/ai
• https://coherentvoices.de/en/author
• https://coherentvoices.de/en/technology