Grow with the Flo
Podcast
Grow with the Flo
Behind the Episode
Q1 Reflection · Solo Episode · ~25 min

The
Hội An
Chapter

A solo episode — Florian Hohenleitner · Grow with the Flo

Four months in — what I found, what I built, and what I'm still figuring out. The routine, the performance trap, and falling in love with this life.

Q1 summary Raw & honest Routine deep-dive Self-love + The performance trap + Still in it
Read the companion
New layer

This episode isn't a highlight reel. Say both things.

This episode isn't just a Q1 summary. It's an honest look at both what opened up in Hội An — and what's still unresolved. I went to Hội An to reconnect with myself. I struggled at first. I stayed anyway. I built something real — and some mornings I still wake up and lose two hours to a screen. Both things are true. This episode says both.

"

New insight — recorded the morning of this session. The routine helped. The growth was real. And this morning you woke up, spent two hours on Instagram, and felt the old weight again. Both things are true. Say both.

Pre-recording note
Viral hook — open with this · before/after contrast, but complicate the "after"

"A few weeks ago I dug a hole at the beach. Just dug it. Got in. Let the sand bury me.

And I genuinely cannot tell you the last time I felt that free.

This morning I woke up and spent two hours on Instagram. I don't even know what I was looking for."

Pause. Then: "Both of those things are me. And this episode is about the distance between them — and why I think that gap is actually the most honest thing I can share right now."

The journey so far

Three chapters. Three different lessons.

Set the scene briefly before going deep. Each place taught something different — and Hội An is where it clicked.

Chapter 1

Sri Lanka

Beautiful but ungrounded. Constantly moving. No kitchen, no stability, no anchor. Showed me what I don't want.

Clarified values
Chapter 2

Bali

Connection, community, movement. Everything I wanted — and then too much. The opportunity for connection became an escape from myself.

Beautiful distraction
Chapter 3 · Now

Hội An

Came here to reconnect with myself. Struggled at first. Stayed anyway. Built something real — and am still figuring out how to live in it.

Where I found myself
Natural arc

Six parts. ~25 minutes. Let it breathe.

Each part has a clear intent. Don't rush past the discomfort — that's where the episode lives.

Part 1 · 3 min
Where I arrived from
Brief but honest — set up the contrast before Hội An.
  • Sri Lanka: lovely, chaotic, clarifying. What it showed me I didn't want.
  • Bali: what I thought I needed — and how it became a mirror for a different problem. Distractions dressed up as connection.
  • "Without any anchor, I felt restless. Ungrounded. Lost. And I didn't know why."
  • Arriving in Hội An: I wanted solitude. Within a few days I felt lonely. Big surprise.
Part 2 · 3 min
The hard first weeks
Don't skip this — the discomfort is the point.
  • The loneliness that came with choosing to be alone. Feeling lost, overwhelmed, ready to leave.
  • The tension: I came here for me, but being with me was uncomfortable.
  • What kept you there. The decision to stay anyway.
  • "I didn't know it yet, but staying was the whole point."
Part 3 · 7 min
The routine that helped — and what it revealed
This is the heart of it. But be honest about both sides: it worked, and it's also become fragile again. Don't tell the clean version.
  • Frame it: "I didn't set out to build a routine. I just started doing one thing. Then another."
  • Talk about the morning as a ritual — warmup, breathwork, movement by feel, mindful coffee, reading
  • "Consistency isn't glamorous. It's just showing up for yourself, again and again, until it stops feeling hard."
  • Then the honest turn: lately the routine has started to feel like a list of shoulds. Breathwork I should do. Yoga I should do. And somewhere in that shift, the aliveness went out of it.
  • "I built something that helped me — and now I'm learning that even the things that save you can become a cage if you're doing them to perform rather than to feel."
Part 4 · 6 min
What opened up — and the moment I finally got it
The beautiful part, but with new depth. The contact improv insight is the centrepiece now.
  • Noticing the world: rice fields on the drive, the mango tree, the cow that wanders in. Slowness made this possible.
  • The beach hole. Say this slowly. Let them feel it. The childlike joy. The meditative quality.
  • Contact improv: the concept of the third entity. Being guided by touch, not by thinking. Not performing. Just present.
  • "The moment I stopped worrying about the outcome, it immediately felt like a success. My partner and I parted ways and we both just said — thank you. That was nice. No applause needed."
  • Then the poem: sat down to write, immediately tried to make it clever and artsy and impressive. The authentic thing got strangled before it could breathe.
  • "That's what happens when you stop performing presence and actually arrive."
Part 5 · 4 min · New
The performance trap — what's actually underneath
This is the new layer. The insight from this morning. Don't explain it too analytically — just share it like you lived it.
  • The pattern: everything I love eventually becomes something I have to be good at. The podcast needs listeners. The retreat needs to work. The morning needs to be productive. Even the poems need to be clever.
  • I left a career full of performance pressure — metrics, compliance, results. And without realising it, rebuilt the same structure around my passions.
  • The jealousy: unfollowing someone because their reels sting. Wanting to be where they are. Comparing instead of creating.
  • "I don't think I'm performing for anyone specific. I think I'm performing for a version of myself that doesn't exist yet — the one that has it figured out. And I'm exhausted trying to get there."
Part 6 · 4 min
Falling in love with this dude — slowly, imperfectly
The most vulnerable part. Don't make it a resolution. Make it a direction.
  • What it means to be starting to like who you are — mindful, caring, present, curious
  • Giving yourself credit for doing something genuinely hard: starting over, staying when it was uncomfortable
  • "A year ago I talked to myself in a way I wouldn't let a stranger speak to me. That's changed."
  • But it's not fixed. This morning happened. And that's okay too. The goal isn't to be permanently healed. It's to keep coming back to yourself — again and again — even when you drift.
  • Close: "I don't have it all figured out. But I'm someone I actually want to spend time with. Most days. And that feels like enough for now."
"

I didn't set out to build a routine. I just started doing one thing. Then another. Consistency isn't glamorous. It's just showing up for yourself, again and again, until it stops feeling hard.

— Flo, Episode 12
The daily routine

Reference for Part 3. What actually helped.

Name each one. Let them see the shape of a day. Then be honest — some of these have started feeling like tasks. That tension is part of the story.

01

Morning warmup

The signal that the day belongs to you before anything else gets in — when it doesn't become a should

Morning
02

Breathwork session

Daily. The anchor that makes everything else easier. And also the thing that sometimes feels like a task now — worth being honest about that tension.

Morning
03

Movement by feel

Yoga, strength, mobility, contact improv — chosen daily based on what the body asks for. The word "feel" is everything here.

Movement
04

Mindful coffee

Not multi-tasking. Just the coffee. This is underrated and worth saying out loud.

Presence
05

Reading & journalling

Making sense of what's happening inside — not just logging days, but processing them

Presence
06

A swim if possible

The words "if possible" matter. This is a practice, not a performance. Say that out loud.

Movement
07

Home-cooked food & water

The unglamorous stuff. But having a kitchen changed your relationship to stability.

Nourish
08

Work in a coworking space

Separation of space matters. Not working from bed. A place for focus.

Structure
09

Enough sleep

Simple. Foundational. And also — last night you didn't. That's real too.

Nourish
Anchor moments

Tell these ones fully.

Don't rush past them. Each of these deserves a full beat — especially the two new ones.

🌿
The mango tree & the cow
The moment you noticed you were noticing. Slowness made this possible. Say it gently.
🤝
Contact improv — the third entity
Being guided by touch. Not thinking. No performance. The moment your partner and you parted ways and both just said — thank you. My partner and I parted ways and we both just said — thank you. That was nice. No applause needed.
🏖
The hole at the beach
Dig into this one. The childlike joy. The sand. Don't explain it too much — just take them there.
✍️
+ The poem you couldn't write
You sat down to write and immediately tried to make it clever. The authentic thing got strangled. This is the performance trap alive in real time — and it's worth sharing.
+ This morning — the phone
Woke up. Two hours on Instagram. Felt the weight. This is not failure. This is honesty. And honesty is the whole point of this podcast.
🛂
The visa situation
Plans changed. Rental changed. The old version of you would have spiralled. This one took it as it came. That's the proof — even if some mornings feel like regression.
Before you record

Remember while recording.

This episode has warmth in it — but also honesty that wasn't in the original brief. You're not reporting on a transformation. You're reflecting on a process that's still happening.

Tone note
The beach hole deserves a smile. The poem story deserves a pause. The "this morning" stuff deserves vulnerability, not shame. You've got ~25 min. Let it breathe. The messy parts are what make it real.
Before the sign-off — invite them in
This episode will resonate with anyone who's ever turned something they love into something they have to be good at. Give them something to sit with.
  • Ask: "When did you last do something with zero performance pressure? Not for the outcome. Just because it felt good in your body?"
  • Ask: "What have you turned into a should? And what would it feel like to just... do it because you wanted to?"
  • Acknowledge: wherever they are in their Q1 — messy, grounded, or somewhere in between — it counts. The gap between the beach hole and the Instagram scroll? That's not failure. That's being human.
Your sign-off · Grow with the Flo
"Follow your intuition, do everything with love, and just see where it takes you."

For this episode, this line is still the whole story. But say it knowing that some days you forget it entirely. You followed your gut to Hội An, stayed when it was uncomfortable, loved yourself through the hard part — and some mornings you still wake up and lose two hours to a screen. That's not a contradiction. That's the ongoing practice of being alive.

— Episode 12 · The Hội An Chapter · Grow with the Flo