Susanne Petz calls it “life intoxicated”. In the morning, when the alarm clock rings, how to work at the push of a button. First go through what needs to be done today, check the messages on your cell phone on the way to the bathroom, then shovel in your breakfast cereal carelessly while answering the first emails on your laptop. And so it goes on all day long. No wonder everyone is so exhausted and dissatisfied. Petz is therefore committed to more healthy self-love. With a book and a film that is now in the cinemas, she wants to shake people up: “Those who love themselves take their lifetime seriously and make something out of it.”
This is based on her own life experiences and insights from her professional work as a business coach. The 61-year-old lives in the 100-year-old forester’s and servants’ house at Weidenkam Castle near Münsing. Many highly paid top managers with burnout have sat with her on the top floor, which has been converted into a practice. Successful on the outside, but heartbroken on the inside because they had forgotten their own needs. “Many of the people I talk to don’t even have a boss behind them with the whip, they put themselves under so much pressure,” says Petz.
That they are making a documentary titled “…like yourself?” filmed is no coincidence: Petz’s first job is a journalist and he also has ten years of experience as a film producer. Together with co-director Ralph Gladitz, she asked nine very different people to stand in front of the camera and let them tell their stories off the cuff. There is a make-up artist, a carpenter, a saleswoman, a teacher, a ranger, a Demeter gardener, an actor, a photographer and an animal psychologist. And also people from the neighborhood: carpenter Georg Leinbach from Münsing, actor and prospective physiotherapist Johannes Bauer from Berg and the Demeter gardener Horst Wendt from Weidenkam, who died last year.
“Actually, it should be normal”
The protagonists, between the ages of 28 and 86, sit in the midst of idyllic nature and report on their relationship to themselves and what experiences have contributed to them being able to love themselves more or less. The two eldest, who were born during the war years, admit that it was only in the course of their lives that they learned to accept themselves as they are. On the other hand, the youngest protagonist would give herself a straight 10, the highest score, for her self-love. “Actually, it should be normal for everyone to feel good and say: I’m good the way I am,” says 28-year-old make-up artist Laura. “If more people felt that way, the world would be a better place.”
That’s exactly what Susanne Petz believes. Those who love themselves face life with fewer fears, are less driven by thoughts of envy and competition, and can more easily consider the interests of others. “When we love ourselves in a healthy way, we treat each other and the world better,” that’s the message she wants to convey to audiences.
Born in Westphalia, she made the film in order to reach more people than with her individual coaching. During the pandemic, she has also written a book, Mit Liebe zum Wir, which will be released alongside the film. It’s not about self-optimization, which is very important to Petz, but about the perception of one’s own actions. “My book is not a guide with a thousand exercises, but an invitation to self-reflection,” says the author. So she also practiced writing to be proud of her breaks. Even if it wasn’t always easy for her. “But who said that I should sit until my back hurts?” she asks with a smile. And she has learned to start the working day with a quarter of an hour of meditation and a round of Nordic walking for her well-being. Incidentally, it is no coincidence that the film and book are released around Valentine’s Day on February 14th. If it were up to Susanne Petz, the day of romantic love should in future also be celebrated as a day of self-love.
The documentary “…like yourself?” runs on Thursday, February 9th, 8 p.m., with film talk Susanne Petz in the Wolfratshausen cinema, further screenings on February 12th and 15th; in Starnberg on February 9th, 7.45 p.m., with film talk Jessica Sonnenschein, protagonist, and February 14th with film talk Michael Feistle and Johannes Bauer, protagonists, further screenings on February 11th and 12th.