What does your ideal morning look like?
My alarm goes off at 4:30. I make coffee on the gas stove, pack up my tent, rub my stiff hands, and set out in the silence of the fading night along a narrow mountain trail leading upward. I listen to my breath, think of nothing, and now and then catch a glimpse of a chamois or an ibex. Around eight o’clock, I’m sitting on one of the Alpine peaks, nibbling on chocolate and looking down at the clouds rolling below me—and at the world slowly waking up beneath them.
What book(s) have you recently read and would recommend?
My choice is clearly influenced by the five months I spent on maternity leave after the birth of our third child. Parenting as a Journey, by Alena and Jan Vávra, was published nearly two years later. Amid the flood of books overwhelming parents with countless demands, it stands out for its empathy, grounding in current—especially psychological—research, and the authors’ hands-on experience in child psychotherapy. I still remember how, in the maternity ward, we were handed a form for the annual waste collection fee as our “welcome gift.” I dream that one day—not only in Brno—new parents will instead receive a starter pack that includes this book.
What do you look forward to most in your workday?
I look forward to seeing colleagues and students alike, but I get up best on days when there isn’t a meeting or lecture to get to first thing—and I can slip into a nearby café for a while, order an espresso, open my laptop, tune in to the soft buzz from the surrounding tables, and feel—for a moment—like a student or a digital nomad.
