Stephan Joppich

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Minimalism & Intentionality

On living with less and decluttering mental, physical, and digital spaces.

Books & Reading

Compressed lessons from the most insightful books I read and thoughts on becoming a better reader.

Loneliness & Human Connection

On the terrorizing feeling of alienation and harnessing the power of human connection.

Philosophy

Drilling down to the core of human existence.

Journaling

Insightful prompts and the surprising benefits of dumping your messy thoughts on a clean page.

Productivity

Making the most of our finite time while avoiding getting charcoaled.

Creativity

Sparking fireworks inside the mind.

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  • Loneliness Isn’t Your Fault: How Genes and Modernity Make Us Lonely

    I’m so stupid. It’s all my fault. How could I let this happen to me? My thoughts spun like a carousel as I walked along an empty beach, somewhere in the North of Portugal. Waves crashed into the shore like relentless soldiers storming sandcastles. Hungry seagulls screamed into the salty air. Grains of sand shimmered in…

  • Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport: 5 Lessons to Tame Technology

    “I finally finished it!” my brother told me on a train headed to the north of Germany. By “it,” I could tell, he meant Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. Not just because I had recommended the book to him a few months prior, but also because there was a smugness in his voice that probably…

  • How to Actually Know You’re Lonely

    In the summer of 2017, I got lonely without knowing it. I remember feeling uneasy at the time. Anxious, restless, constantly craving distractions. But loneliness? I didn’t even consider it. A few weeks earlier, I had moved away from home and into a one-bedroom apartment. It was my first time living all alone. And I’d…

  • A Non-Minimalist Guide to Curbing Impulse Purchases

    Of all the advice minimalism sprinkles into the world, I’ve always found one area particularly unsatisfying and one-dimensional: impulse purchases. Conventional tips include: Delay the purchase. Stick to your budget. Shop with a plan. Sure, these things might pamper ascetics or seasoned minimalists, but they never worked for me. Isn’t it the very nature of…

  • The Stigma of Loneliness: Why It’s So Hard to Admit We’re Lonely

    “I don’t believe the cure for loneliness is meeting someone, not necessarily. I think it’s about two things: learning how to befriend yourself and understanding that many of the things that seem to afflict us as individuals are in fact a result of larger forces of stigma and exclusion which can and should be resisted.”…

  • Dopamine Nation: 5 Lessons on Pain, Pleasure, and Balance

    When I was stuck in a deep rut and YouTube rabbit hole a few months ago, I randomly came across an interview with Dr. Anna Lembke — a psychiatrist, author, and addiction specialist. Unexpectedly, I heard her say something that pierced through my apathetic slumber: “We’ve reached a tipping point where abundance itself has become a physiological…

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