According to Funk Podcast & Blog

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00:00 - 0:00:09 Autumn is here and the world is getting color everywhere.
0:00:09 – 0:00:12 [Music]
0:00:12 – 0:00:41 [Music]
0:00:41 – 0:00:50 Hello to the digression, where I occasionally digress. I'm Sascha Markmann and I say
0:00:50 – 0:00:58 hello. The theme today is autumn, because when I look out of my kitchen window and see the trees
0:00:58 – 0:01:08 look, then I see there that the first already begin to sound in the most beautiful golden tones.
0:01:08 – 0:01:21 shine and that brings me back to better times. Where I grew up
0:01:21 – 0:01:30 I was looking out the kitchen window, there was a tree – I really don’t know
0:01:30 – 0:01:41 I, what kind that was of the tree that had its foliage bright red, really bright red.
0:01:41 – 0:01:51 And it was almost the first one who had just changed the color. And then I knew so,
0:01:51 – 0:01:58 Yes, now comes the autumn season. I mean from the fact that somehow I have the feeling,
0:01:58 – 0:02:09 that these seasons have somehow totally shifted and that the time in spring
0:02:09 – 0:02:20 more and more beginning, the summer is getting longer and the autumn starts later, I have the feeling,
0:02:20 – 0:02:29 The older you get, the less you pay attention to these things. As a child we collected leaves,
0:02:29 – 0:02:37 Acorns, chestnuts and made things with them and as an adult, okay, you just see
0:02:37 – 0:02:46 a Buchecker or a few other things and thinks so, yes okay, but as a child were
0:02:46 – 0:02:51 all this so beautiful things with which you could do something and when you get on
0:02:51 – 0:02:56 The schoolyard with the big boys threw things to the head.
0:02:56 – 0:03:01 My God, they could hit them well. Sometimes that really onioned.
0:03:01 – 0:03:12 Today I also see these things and think to myself that nature is really something beautiful and I
0:03:12 – 0:03:21 I like autumn. Autumn mostly has beautiful sunny days, then those windy moments
0:03:21 – 0:03:33 and then again rainy days and I know how great that was on the delivered,
0:03:33 – 0:03:40 harvested fields with stubble and short pants, which had been worn at that time with shoes
0:03:40 – 0:03:47 and socks, if you ran there and then your ankles hurt somehow,
0:03:47 – 0:03:52 Because the straws have always pieced. But you walked there with a dragon.
0:03:52 – 0:03:58 I just grew up on the edge of a small town, right on the canal and there were
0:03:58 – 0:04:06 many fields and meadows, small forests. An old session area was nearby,
0:04:06 – 0:04:14 Well, there were a lot of birch trees on it, but so around it were old trees and also,
0:04:14 – 0:04:22 When you looked out of the kitchen window, you looked at a park and there were
0:04:22 – 0:04:29 also planted special trees, including this one that really glowed red.
0:04:29 – 0:04:35 I mean, as a child these seasons are somehow much more intensely remembered,
0:04:35 – 0:04:39 after you had such a really great summer and still a great summer holiday,
0:04:39 – 0:04:48 then the autumn came and it finally heralded the winter and then you have,
0:04:48 – 0:04:55 how am I supposed to say that, almost then the annual financial statements already heralded,
0:04:55 – 0:05:03 because then the trees were naked, then there was Halloween, but Halloween we still have at that time
0:05:03 – 0:05:09 Not celebrated at all. No one really knew what Halloween was here. Yes, the
0:05:09 – 0:05:17 Dude, they're talking about quite, very sooner. In the 80s, you might have known the Halloween movies.
0:05:17 – 0:05:26 And they ran on some third channel, on some day, if that's on
0:05:26 – 0:05:38 It fell from Saturday. You just knew autumn was coming, winter was coming, and then
0:05:38 – 0:05:45 The end of the year comes with the grand finale, Christmas and New Year's Eve. This has been
0:05:45 – 0:05:52 somehow looking forward to it. Yes, well, then there was the autumn holidays, but they were always with us
0:05:52 – 0:05:57 It was stupid because we had a week longer autumn holidays than the others. The others
0:05:57 – 0:06:03 had seven days virtually school-free and we had 14 days and the one week alone,
0:06:03 – 0:06:13 without the friends from the neighborhood also had free, was really boring. There have been my
0:06:13 – 0:06:18 Sister and I also often had myself in the wool, because we just have nothing with our
0:06:18 – 0:06:20 We knew from our beginning.
0:06:20 – 0:06:31 Yes, I am now at an age where I look at autumn.
0:06:31 – 0:06:43 I'm about to turn 50, shit half a century, and look back on my life like that.
0:06:43 – 0:06:49 I mean, I had talked about that at some point because I was asked,
0:06:49 – 0:06:57 What did you actually do in your life? And I don't have that kind of midlife crisis
0:06:57 – 0:07:03 had. So where you then change your wife for something younger, get yourself a quick
0:07:03 – 0:07:11 Buying a car or a fast motorcycle. Well, I had most of it somehow. Or the Schlagamt
0:07:11 – 0:07:18 Just gave me a dash through the bill. The whole thing was ten years ago. I believe,
0:07:18 – 0:07:24 Stroke has been a big part of my response to this midlife crisis.
0:07:24 – 0:07:36 I've spent other ways than worrying about what my life would have been different.
0:07:36 – 0:07:50 can be. Life could have been different, definitely. Oh, yeah. The beautiful thing is, I see
0:07:50 – 0:07:59 Just now in this coming time just the positive. You become calmer, more settled. The
0:07:59 – 0:08:04 Whole escapades that you made as a young adult, you don't need to do them anymore.
0:08:04 – 0:08:11 Now I don't even have to sit spontaneously on my motorcycle and ride 1000 kilometers in any
0:08:11 – 0:08:19 Go in the direction of the sky to see what's there. I've done a lot of that already,
0:08:19 – 0:08:29 Whether south, north, west, east. I looked at it a lot because I was lucky
0:08:29 – 0:08:38 To be at a time when there was just this super positive mood. At the latest
0:08:38 – 0:08:44 After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, you could go anywhere without problems.
0:08:44 – 0:08:52 go there. Thanks to the Schengen agreement and the Schengen area without any problems. And if I
0:08:52 – 0:08:58 Look at it now, it's all a bit limited again. And people catch yes
0:08:58 – 0:09:04 pushing back to the limits.
0:09:04 – 0:09:06 That's great, that stop at a
0:09:06 – 0:09:09 Time where I could and where I was young,
0:09:09 – 0:09:13 Do it without problems.
0:09:13 – 0:09:16 That is why I now see this phase in the
0:09:16 – 0:09:19 Life just totally relaxed towards,
0:09:19 – 0:09:21 Because I can just say yes, I have
0:09:21 – 0:09:23 I made. Of course there are a few
0:09:23 – 0:09:26 Things I didn't do that
0:09:26 – 0:09:28 I might still have liked to do. But
0:09:26 – 0:09:32 This is the great thing about autumn. Autumn is almost not the end. Yes, we are not yet in
0:09:32 – 0:09:42 Winter, but it is almost the transition and I enjoy this time. You already have neat
0:09:42 – 0:09:47 Life experience, one now comes into this serenity that one can say, oh God,
0:09:47 – 0:09:53 Everything is eaten half as hot as it is cooked. And just look like that,
0:09:53 – 0:09:59 what life is like and focuses more on the beautiful things. And that is also something,
0:09:59 – 0:10:05 What the stroke showed me then. Focus on the things that do you good.
0:10:05 – 0:10:14 They will enrich you, they will please you, they will be fun for you. Yeah, I've been doing that for ten years. Me
0:10:14 – 0:10:23 I still have a lot to learn, I mean, you learn your whole life. Even the final phase
0:10:23 – 0:10:28 Of life, there is still a lot to learn, especially about yourself. As I said,
0:10:28 – 0:10:34 I finally worked in nursing and accompanied people who
0:10:34 – 0:10:44 They left autumn and entered the winter phase of life. I found it interesting,
0:10:44 – 0:10:51 How easy-going some people were when they died. I also wish such coolness that you
0:10:51 – 0:10:59 can just say, yes, that was a horny party and now the party is over.
0:10:59 – 0:11:06 I mean, we don't worry too much about it all coming to an end somehow.
0:11:06 – 0:11:15 You come into the world, you go through childhood, then you grow up and you realize,
0:11:15 – 0:11:23 Life is more complicated than you thought as a child. And then you live your life
0:11:23 – 0:11:32 As an adult and suddenly realizes, my God, where have the last 20 years gone? And
0:11:32 – 0:11:40 go on and on and on. Then comes the point where you realize you're getting old. And
0:11:40 – 0:11:47 I noticed the points. I'm a closet door weeks ago, I have such a big
0:11:47 – 0:11:54 Floating cabinet, a door jumped out of the rail on one side. There you have to
0:11:54 – 0:11:59 unhook the door and rehook it. This is what I did the last time ten years ago.
0:11:59 – 0:12:06 And then I realized, shit, the door has become at least twice as heavy. And
0:12:06 – 0:12:12 And then I thought of my father, as he said to me in his early 50s.
0:12:12 – 0:12:15 Now comes the point where he just realizes that he doesn't have that much energy anymore.
0:12:15 – 0:12:18 At 40, it wasn't like that, but it was like that at 50.
0:12:18 – 0:12:22 And yes, he was right.
0:12:22 – 0:12:23 He was right.
0:12:23 – 0:12:29 And when I talk to my mother today, as it is over 70, she also says
0:12:29 – 0:12:33 Ten years ago I was able to do all this.
0:12:33 – 0:12:36 I could do so much more than I do today.
0:12:36 – 0:12:46 And yes, if you think in decades, then you notice even more that you could do less
0:12:46 – 0:12:48 How about a decade or two before that?
0:12:48 – 0:12:57 My God, I sat on the motorcycle or in the car for 14, 16 hours and I'm somewhere
0:12:57 – 0:12:58 went there.
0:12:58 – 0:13:05 I went to England once, stayed there one night and then went back.
0:13:05 – 0:13:13 by car. I almost only slept with my aunt, then stopped my aunt and my
0:13:13 – 0:13:19 Cousin packed in the car, another friend of my aunt's and then I stop to Germany
0:13:19 – 0:13:28 driven. If I were to do this today, I'd probably be like this three or four days later.
0:13:28 – 0:13:36 ass. My ass will hurt me. Oh, my God. I don't want to introduce that anymore.
0:13:36 – 0:13:47 Yeah, but that's how it is. You just notice that things are changing and that's good. Of course
0:13:47 – 0:13:54 you will sometimes wish back the agility and the strength, but as I said, a
0:13:54 – 0:14:00 Girlfriend of my mother has always said, everyone has his time and yes, right,
0:14:00 – 0:14:07 When you are young, you should try yourself, romp around, so that you can get out of the experiences in life.
0:14:07 – 0:14:13 Then learn and take the stop with you. And I come now in a phase in life,
0:14:13 – 0:14:22 Where I can say you have achieved much of what you wished for. You have so much
0:14:22 – 0:14:32 Experience made. So if I were to bite the grass now, I really wouldn't be sad.
0:14:32 – 0:14:41 I'd be disappointed that I can't experience more, but I've had one so far.
0:14:41 – 0:14:50 really good life and also the stroke, which has changed so much, also had something
0:14:50 – 0:14:58 positive, his positive, because it has also shown me that in my life it
0:14:58 – 0:15:02 There are many other things that are just as important as the things I do.
0:15:02 – 0:15:09 previously considered important. And I've also seen again how
0:15:09 – 0:15:19 They are important friends and family. Yes, I know when dealing with finiteness
0:15:19 – 0:15:27 of life is busy. This is not a popular topic, because the topic will be in our society.
0:15:27 – 0:15:36 Yes, for the most part pushed aside, "outsourced" as they say so beautifully. The
0:15:36 – 0:15:43 Old people and the sick are given into nursing homes and if you were so fit that you
0:15:43 – 0:15:48 did not have to go to the nursing home, but is already so sick that you soon die, yes then there are also
0:15:48 – 0:15:56 Another hospice, where you can spend the last days as pleasantly as possible.
0:15:56 – 0:16:05 This used to happen within the family. There, three or four generations have come under one roof.
0:16:05 – 0:16:15 lived and there it was normal to have witnessed the birth, sometimes even the procreation,
0:16:15 – 0:16:24 But also the old and the dying. And that was totally normal. Today, milk comes from the
0:16:24 – 0:16:35 Aldi, electricity comes out of the socket and is yellow and cows are purple. This is total alienation.
0:16:35 – 0:16:44 When my father told me what it was like in his childhood to have a pig
0:16:44 – 0:16:52 has kept garden, which has then just raised or even a whole house community,
0:16:52 – 0:17:01 keep several animals and they were then slaughtered, then you knew where something came from,
0:17:01 – 0:17:10 How something is made, how a pig is made. Yes, and today all this is sold in the Aldi,
0:17:10 – 0:17:19 Net or other four letter discounter. And that's the thing I mean. We have
0:17:19 – 0:17:27 We are somehow alienated from life and from what is necessary for it. And that includes,
0:17:27 – 0:17:33 that one does not worry about what grows old and about death. When I take old pictures
0:17:33 – 0:17:42 look, then I also see, I was slimmer, I had a firmer skin, fewer wrinkles,
0:17:42 – 0:17:58 There was none and was younger. But somehow I also like my face today, because that just shows,
0:17:58 – 0:18:07 that I have lived. And I have had so many conversations in nursing and also with
0:18:07 – 0:18:12 People who will soon die, who then told me about their lives,
0:18:12 – 0:18:21 of long-deceased relatives and such wisdom. And a wisdom that continues to this day
0:18:21 – 0:18:30 burned so deep into my brain, is that if you have a partner for life
0:18:30 – 0:18:35 searches, I mean he got it back then on a
0:18:35 – 0:18:39 Woman related, but it doesn't always have to
0:18:39 – 0:18:40 Being a woman, then you should watch,
0:18:40 – 0:18:43 that you find someone with whom you
0:18:43 – 0:18:46 can entertain. Because if you don't
0:18:46 – 0:18:49 can, then a life will be damned
0:18:49 – 0:18:51 Lonely and sad when you stop
0:18:51 – 0:18:54 Especially not in old age.
0:18:54 – 0:18:57 Can talk to each other. And these are
0:18:54 – 0:19:03 these little treasures that old people can give away if you give them the opportunity
0:19:03 – 0:19:11 Let's talk about their life experiences. Now I don't want to presume that I
0:19:11 – 0:19:19 I have my 49 years of wisdom that I can share, but I can already say,
0:19:19 – 0:19:25 It's really important to have a person by your side to talk to.
0:19:25 – 0:19:31 can. Especially with the person you spend most of your time with. It must be someone,
0:19:31 – 0:19:38 with whom you can talk well. You can't fuck all day, you can't.
0:19:38 – 0:19:48 At least I don't know anyone who can. But there are many other things and
0:19:48 – 0:19:56 They are simply good, positive, enriching conversations. Also something I just noticed
0:19:56 – 0:20:05 I did when I got older. I mean, I was there, how old was I, where I had this wisdom with me?
0:20:05 – 0:20:14 got, so 38, 37, 38 so. I haven't really understood this message yet,
0:20:14 – 0:20:27 Because I also had wilder times between relationships. Let's call it that. But this
0:20:27 – 0:20:31 are also everything so small things that you have experienced in life and where you like to go to the
0:20:31 – 0:20:39 Press thinks or sometimes thinks so. You could have saved that experience. But who am I?
0:20:39 – 0:20:45 Everyone has to have their own experiences. You can only tell people from your experiences.
0:20:45 – 0:20:51 Report and say that it's better, it's not worth it. And I have some of them too.
0:20:51 – 0:20:59 So if I was asked about a life experience now, that's not a good idea,
0:20:59 – 0:21:08 into a flooded cellar from a shell through the non-existent stairwell
0:21:08 – 0:21:16 Glass wool to jump. The pants itch here all day. But I think that's something,
0:21:16 – 0:21:21 Which is probably less done these days, as it was then. Because that was even then a
0:21:21 – 0:21:30 Damn stupid idea. We've done a lot of shit. Maybe I can do that too
0:21:30 – 0:21:36 Tell a nephew about me and say it was a stupid idea. But I think,
0:21:36 – 0:21:42 When I get to the age where I can pass on wisdom in this way, they are already all
0:21:42 – 0:21:50 adult. Maybe I have big nephews, if you can tell that. Would also be a
0:21:50 – 0:21:58 Interesting experience to have great nephews. Well, and there we have the connection. I move
0:21:58 – 0:22:07 Slow but steady. I hope in many
0:22:07 – 0:22:12 years to the winter of life and my
0:22:12 – 0:22:14 Nephews are in the process of
0:22:14 – 0:22:17 Spring to leave or already have the
0:22:17 – 0:22:22 Spring arrives or lives in
0:22:22 – 0:22:23 Spring, nee the summer.
0:22:23 – 0:22:25 One definitely has the summer
0:22:25 – 0:22:28 already reached, the others are short
0:22:25 – 0:22:33 to leave before spring or still in the middle and enjoy all this and do
0:22:33 – 0:22:40 their experience and that's just nice to watch. Now I've bored you enough
0:22:40 – 0:22:47 with my ideas and philosophy about life. I hope you liked it and
0:22:47 – 0:22:56 If you have thoughts about this, write it in the comments. Uses the contact paths,
0:22:56 – 0:23:03 which are indicated. And I'd say we'll hear each other next time we digress.
0:23:03 – 0:23:04 Goodbye, Sasha.
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Autumn is here. The leaves turn golden, the air gets cooler and nature slowly changes its face. But sometimes a look out of the kitchen window is enough to not only perceive the season, but also to embark on a journey into your own past.

In this edition of divergence Sascha Markmann takes autumn as an opportunity to reflect on childhood memories, aging and the different seasons of life.

There are the memories of bright red trees, collected chestnuts, dragon climbing on harvested fields and a childhood in which the seasons still had their own meaning. But from these initially carefree thoughts develops a deeper consideration of how our view of the world changes with age.

At the age of almost 50, Sascha looks back on the experiences of his life. On spontaneous motorcycle trips across Europe, on youthful recklessness, on changed living conditions and on the stroke, which changed a lot of things fundamentally ten years ago. This is not only about what is lost over the years, but above all about what we can gain in knowledge and serenity.

Another focus is dealing with one's own transience. From his earlier work in nursing, Sascha reports on encounters with elderly and dying people, their life stories and small wisdoms, the meaning of which sometimes becomes apparent many years later.

One of these findings is particularly important: How important is it to have a person at your side with whom you can really talk even after many years together?

The episode also deals with the question of why aging and dying are often marginalized in our society, why life experience cannot be easily passed on, and why each generation must make its own mistakes.

A personal, thoughtful and sometimes humorous digression about memories, changes, relationships and the realization that the autumn of life does not mean its end.

Each season has its own beauty – and each age has its own meaning.

Man with backpack looking at a landscape at sunset surrounded by memories from different phases of life

Topics of this episode:

When nature awakens memories: Why the autumnal play of colours of the trees suddenly brings back pictures from their own childhood and why some memories remain alive even after decades.
Chestnuts, dragons and harvested fields: A journey back to childhood, when the seasons were experienced even more consciously, natural materials were part of the game and even small adventures were unforgettable.
How our relationship to the seasons changes: Why we as children may perceive spring, summer, autumn and winter more intensely and lose sight of many of these small peculiarities in adult life.
Almost 50 years – and suddenly time becomes tangible: About getting older, your own life review and the question of whether a classic midlife crisis is even necessary.
A stroke and new priorities: How a drastic health event can change the view of one's own life and why personal satisfaction does not necessarily have to be tied to previous performance.
Motorcycle tours, boundless freedom and bygone times: Memories of spontaneous journeys through Europe, the spirit of optimism after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the freedoms that shaped a whole phase of life.
When the body sets other limits: Why a heavy cabinet door suddenly becomes a symbol of aging and how physical changes are noticeable compared to previous decades.
Autumn as a symbol of life: From adolescent light-heartedness to the experiences of adulthood to the serenity of old age – and why each of these phases has its own value.
What dying people say about life: Personal experiences from the care of the elderly, encounters with people at the end of life and the different ways of meeting one's own finiteness.
Why we displace old age and death: On the social handling of long-term care, hospices, dying and the increasing distance to natural life processes.
Perhaps the most important insight about partnerships: Why conversations, mutual understanding and spiritual connection can be more important in the long run than physical attraction alone.
Life wisdom, mistakes and youthful nonsense: Why you have to make some experiences yourself, why not every well-meaning advice is immediately understood and which pretty absurd youth experiences make you smile in retrospect.
The next generation and the cycle of life: Thoughts about one's nephews, sharing experiences and the different phases of life in which the generations of a family find themselves at the same time.
Everyone has their time: Why growing older means not only loss, but also satisfaction, new perspectives and the freedom to look at one's own life more consciously.