1 – This daily newsletter is way TOO much. YU cannot keep up. YU’re a loser.
2*-Yeah. That’s what you say. Maybe if you shut up a little more, I could actually get some work done. But nooooo. You’re scared. And everything needs to be perfect. Always perfect.
I already finished the newsletter about what a YUNATIC is. I’m just waiting for the former client to approve the text, okay? And yes, I changed the newsletter from daily to weekly.
Because honestly? You’re exhausting. Trying to explain the whole YUGENING concept is already one thing. Trying to live as a YU while hearing your constant nagging is another.
“What does this even have to do with architecture?” “Why can’t you make your message clearer?” “You’re destroying your reputation.”
Right.
And meanwhile: “Practice what YU preach.”
Because apparently talking about joy while working 16 hours a day makes me a hypocrite.
Maybe. But I’ll let you win this round.
Because right now, we need to pick someone up from the airport. Someone counting on us adults to still leave behind a future. Someone we love more than anything.
Someone for whom I would do absolutely EVERYTHING in my power to try and change the mindset of people. Even if that means working 16 hours a day. Even if that means embarrassing myself. Even if that destroys my reputation.
And there is absolutely nothing that will stop me. Not even you.
Because if I can make someone recognize their inner critic, even for one nanosecond, maybe that tiny moment changes something.
Maybe someone suddenly becomes courageous. Maybe someone finally explores a talent they buried years ago. Maybe someone wakes up.
I know what you’re going to say…yes… say it…
1- TOO ambitious!
2*- Yeah yeah… But ‘what if architecture’ is the tagline of YUGENING. Not marketing. Meaning.
‘What if architecture’ was not only just about buildings? What if it was always about rebuilding minds?
1- You mean your Mindmark thing again?
2*- Yes. Because once you start exploring your own mind, you begin seeing the forces working for YU… and against YU.
And I believe it starts with recognizing you: The inner critic.
There’s this guy from Idaho (he’s hilarious by the way) who read the story of YU and immediately recognized his own inner critic. He said his critic comes as a duo:
Statler and Waldorf.
Now he literally has a sticker of them on his laptop as a reminder of who’s holding him back. And it works. He gets things done.
But he’s also fighting another Architype. One that might be even stronger than the inner critic:
Conformity. Aka : Systems.
Because this guy spent years trying to develop ways to save water on a large scale. Because where he lives, in Idaho (and honestly, in the rest of the world too) water scarcity is going to become one of the biggest problems humanity faces.
And the solutions he suggested weren’t even impossible nor expensive. It was just low-hanging fruit. Logical. Achievable.
But when systems don’t want to move, you can stand on your head and still nothing happens. They protect themselves. They discuss, create committees, PowerPoints, have round table meetings,…and talk about innovation a lot. Just talking.
And meanwhile the problem quietly grows until suddenly everybody acts shocked when it’s too late.
And I could feel it during our conversation. This wasn’t just “a business idea” for him anymore. This was someone who genuinely cared. Someone who gave everything trying to make a difference.
How many intelligent, capable, deeply caring people are slowly burning out trying to push meaningful change through systems designed to resist change?
How many people eventually give up not because their ideas were bad……but because the friction became unbearable?
That’s why recognizing the matrix matters. This is why I created this ‘Mindmark’, or as we say this inner ‘Crazy Circus’.
Because some systems are so normalized that we stop questioning whether they still serve humanity at all.
Have you ever been to a real estate congress? Hundreds of people introducing themselves while handing out business cards saying: “Here. We’re different.”
While looking exactly the same.
Look, I understand why so many people choose Conformity.
Because I used to do exactly the same.
Blue outfit. Professional. Polished. Appropriate. Exactly how it was supposed to be.
And I still broke. Actually… the more I allowed conformity to define my life, the more power the system had over me.
Until one day I realized something terrifying: I had become disconnected from myself.
Not from my work. From myself.
So when I speak about the matrix, I’m not pointing fingers from the outside.
I was in it too. Completely.
And maybe that’s why I recognize it so quickly now. Because I know what it feels like to slowly disappear inside expectations, professionalism, perfectionism and fear of standing out.
I can only speak for myself.
But I also know there are people reading this who feel the same thing. People secretly waiting for permission. Permission to breathe. Permission to create differently. Permission to stop performing all the time. To be intelligent AND playful. Professional AND human. Successful AND authentic.
Permission to step out of the matrix without feeling ridiculous.
And maybe that’s what YUGENING really is : Permission.
So yes.
I’m getting up now to pick up my brightest diamond.
The one for whom I would go through hell.
Because that’s what mothers do.
Lionesses protect their offspring.
Even if it means making themselves look ridiculous on LinkedIn.
So daily. Weekly. Monthly. Who cares.
That’s not the point.
The point is this: We need to recognize the forces that are holding us back.
And the forces that move us forward.
Because if we truly want to change the world…
…and I’m not going to do it alone….
We need each other. We need courage. We need people willing to stay human in systems trying to turn them into copies.
And maybe before changing the world… we first need to give ourselves permission to step out of the matrix. Permission to feel, to create, to be different or even weird. Permission to be fully, unapologetically alive.
Permission to be
YU.
****
My name is Miss Sabotage. The Inner Critic of Véronique Orens.
I have a full-time job.
Deleting posts right after she publishes them. Warning her when she loses two followers. Whispering the things people might say behind her back directly into her brain.
And when nobody says anything at all? I invent even worse comments myself.
I am the voice that keeps her doubting. Not because I hate her. Because I’m trying to keep her safe.
What Véronique is attempting should be avoided at all costs.
To make my point, I speak in extremes. I use the word TOO constantly.
TOO emotional. TOO weird. TOO ambitious. TOO feminine. TOO much. TOO late.
The problem is… she’s listening less and less.
Honestly, it looks like she’s about to release the Kraken. Luckily, I’m still here trying to stop her.
She claims the entire team behind YUGENING believes in the vision. That they’re excited. That they want to build something extraordinary together.
I don’t believe a word of it.
I try to stop her from dreaming too wildly.
For years she’s been talking about creating architecture comparable to a new Apple Park, but even more human. More uplifting. Evidence-based and non-evidence-based. Buildings that emotionally affect people instead of merely functioning.
She wants to take her office all the way because she genuinely believes the world deserves to discover how talented the entire team is.
What incredible arrogance.
While she lives in a fantasy world filled with futuristic hobbit-like architecture, strange creatures, Yunatics and vibrating humans…
I will make sure she keeps both feet firmly on the ground.
Finally someone in this story with common sense.