- Seeing the world with different eyes
Throughout September/October I’ve been to India for couple of weeks, which turned out to be quite an exciting journey. Seeing different realities, experiencing other priorities and just making it through a country with such an enormous amount of cultural diversity and historical heritage was a delightful experience. Coming back home made me realize even more the privileges we’re having in Germany but also excited for the future to unfold around the world.
- Keeping calm and carry on
The amount of noise around can get easily get overwhelming these days. Never ending disruptions within the political landscape, crises occurring everywhere (war/climate/economy, etc.) and too many people telling the world what’s true and what’s not (although life is of course just melting pot experiences and perspectives). There are probably multiple ways to handle that best for oneself, but I was getting back to journaling on a regular basis. Being conscious and curious by writing it down day by day on a piece of paper, that feels to be the right thing for me.
- Continuing to learn
As the world evolves, so should one self in my opinion. Getting to know inspiring thoughts is therefore not annual exercise, but an ongoing practice. Looking back on this year, there has been amazing content I got to discover. Great books (“Heiterkeit”, “Not the End of the World”, “Das Buch, von dem du dir wünschst deine Liebsten würden es lesen”), exciting podcasts (“SchwarzRotGold: Mesut Özil zu Gast bei Freunden”, “Das Wiesn Kartell”, “Judging Amanda Knox“, Hotel Matze”), interesting real-life events (Florence Gaub at “philo.live!” or Elif Shafak lecturing “The Rivers in the Sky”), valuable Masterclass-Sessions (with Lewis Hamilton, Ester Perel and George W. Bush) and much more. Feeling that there are many more things ahead I can take advantage of actually keeps me moving forward.
- Being both: human kind
There’s no secret around my dad having turned 60 this year, which made me absolutely grateful. Having such a strong ally by my side is a tremendous support – however, the reality might be, my parents are heading slowly towards their last third of their lives. Which on the other hand brought me to the conclusion that from my point of view, nothing should remain unspoken as of now. Consequently, I sat down and took the time to write down what I feel for and with them – regarding the past, right now and also looking forward. Took me quite some courage overall, but it was probably the best decision I made in 2024. The amount of peace of mind gained by that is priceless and will for sure be a great foundation for everything ahead.
- Bringing back the joy
Kamala Harris obviously lost the election, after an actually quite encouraging campaign. Whether Donald Trump will be a good choice for America and the world, time will tell. But what substantially and sustainably stuck with me was her positive attitude and humble optimism. We’re far from perfect on this planet, but I also strongly believe what Joe Biden often said: “There’s nothing we cannot do, if we do it together.” Building upon that, working on a better future while having fun should rather be a good match than a contradiction. Hence, I’ll give my best to do so further on and wish Donald Trump all the best. I won’t let myself get doomed by the neverending rhetoric which fuels divide, hate and misogyny in 2025.
- Having a good time altogether
This summer was gorgeous. At least from my experience, it was the first full-scale summer post-covid. And what made it so special, was the amount of collective moments of lightheartedness. No matter, whether (personally spoken) it was the explosive moment of Florian Wirtz equalizing against Spain or many thousands of people cheering upon “Sky full of Stars” – when not only realizing but also embracing that we’re all one and strive to have a good time, the magic is ready to happen. If there’s one story, which describes the spirit of what we all need (again) much more of, it could be this one.
“Schau Marcus, so hat der liebe Gott sich die Welt vorgestellt.” – Es war der 09. Juli 2006 nachmittags im ersten Stock des Hotel Adlon in Berlin, als Franz Beckenbauer und ich gemeinsam auf das Brandenburger Tor und die Straße des 17. Juni schauten. Wir blickten auf hunderttausende von Menschen aller Herkunftsländer, Hautfarben und Religionen, die friedlich die WM 2006 feierten und auf das Public Viewing des WM Finales am selben Abend warteten, als der Kaiser diesen Satz zu mir sagte. Lange bevor Diversity und Rassengleichheit gesellschaftlich glücklicherweise immer wichtiger wurden, war ihm das das Allerwichtigste, eben “Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden”.
- Realizing “no” is next opportunity
In terms of career and professional development, not everything worked out the way I expected and hoped for it in January. Nevertheless, over the course of the last months, things turned out to get more exciting again. And I felt that this was just possible because I stuck straight forward with two conclusions: 1) You can’t change what happened in the past, so leave it there. And 2) Where one door closes, another might open up, so take a look. In the end, for me that meant, instead of getting promoted, I used this unexpected window of opportunity to kick-off and follow up on a vision I had in my head for quite a long time: writing a book.
- Just doing it.
The future is often about executing plans, making the time ahead more predictable and reliable. This in itself can also get a bit boring from time to time, hence there is of course some kind of truth within what Forrest Gump once said: “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” I mean, who doesn’t like surprises and spontaneous emotions of positivity overall? In 2024, amongst other things, that meant for me: sleeping outside while watching the stars (which I’ve done not for more than a decade), jumping from a cliff (which I initially assumed to be to high for me) or just following the crowd on a Sunday afternoon in Berlin and then ending up with a handshake of Emmanuel Macron (who I didn’t even know was there). Opportunities of luck are flowing along again and again – but they want to get catched.
- Embracing Greatness
This year has been a year of extraordinary breakthroughs, on an individual level but also from a humanity point of view. Of course to mention the Olympics, with just a few highlights to name: Simone Biles, who had a furious comeback at the Olympics after having cancelled Tokyo due to mental issues; Novak Djokovic, who finally completed his career record; Katie Ledecky who continued to build upon her amazing swimming career. But also, there have been just great moments of emotions and surprises, like Carsten Sostmeier commenting on the victory of Michael Jung (eventing riding) or the tremendous performance from Femke Bol at the 4x400m mixed relay-running. And while “the sky’s the limit” appears to be true from an olympic point of view, the same applies from a technological perspective: like him or not, but what Elon Musk and his team at SpaceX achieved this year is absolutely extraordinary. The midair catch of a super heavy rocket booster, a more than 70m large part literally falling from the sky, is worth to be named a historic event in humans technological progress on this planet. We’re moving forward, no matter what.
- Recharging outside
“Sky above. Earth below. Peace within.” – that’s what life ideally is all about. And when looking back on this year, I couldn’t be more grateful for many moments which have made me feel exactly this way. No matter whether it was cycling around Berlin, skiing in Austria or hiking around the Swiss Alps – life happens outside, the world is there to get explored. Getting captured by different sorts of distractions is sometimes unavoidable, but deciding to refocus and rebalance is a choice. Having not missed it out this year, makes me satisfied looking backwards and cautiously optimistic for 2025.
Jürgen Baumgärtner 
A summary that reveals a lot and where you have to recognise the openness.
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DANKE, für das tolle Buch von Elif Shafak.
Ich habe mir heute Morgen Zeit genommen und zu lesen angefangen … nach einem viertel des Buches musste ich eine Pause zu Mittag einlegen. Am meisten beeindruckt mich die Schriftstellerin. Sie hat einen umwerfenden Schreibstil! Die Kunst des Erzählers ist, Geschichten so spannend zu erzählen, dass man nicht aufhören kann zuzuhören. In diesem Fall zu lesen! 📙👏🏻
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