Mid May Mayday (5.15.24)

You'll never walk alone.

Liverpool’s match against Wolves at Anfield this coming Sunday is the last game for Jurgen Klopp as manager. It marks a wonderful (for fans) 9 year run in which the club won nearly every available accolade in club football. Despite having several more years on his contract, Klopp informed Liverpool last fall that he was not going to continue beyond this season:

“I love the team…[but] I am…running out of energy…I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again…after the years we had together…all the things we went through…the least I owe you is the truth.”

Photo by Marco Bianchetti on Unsplash

Many were shocked, but for keener observers the signs had crept in over the past few seasons. Receding into memory was peak, joyful, Klopp. Sure, the fist pumps and post-game hugs were still there, but now accompanied by uncharacteristic grouchiness: grumbling about player schedules, referee decisions, VAR controversies and the infamous pulled hamstring at Spurs, instant retribution for a forbidden taste of schadenfreude. His work had lost its joy, and I suspect, to a degree, he had lost himself.

LFC will miss Jurgen, as will I. But I am glad he is taking this time to reset. Like Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and other sports celebrities who have chosen to be publicly vulnerable about their mortality as cultural heroes, in Klopp we see the inseparable nature of our professional and private spheres - these spheres are, as I like to say, porous. The world is better with a little peak Jurgen than a lot of non-peak Jurgen (and Simone, and Naomi, and, mark this, Taylor). 

And so it is for you. You want to be your best self. You are motivated, at least in some measure, by love and concern for someone, or something. And so you keep pushing. But from time to time, it gets harder, and life gets stuck. I know how that feels. I’ve gone through peaks and troughs too. It’s hard to sustain a peak for long. In fact, by definition, it’s impossible.

I first wrote about Jurgen in a trough, during Covid. I still have dark memories of that time, camping out in the makeshift office that was the guest room of our house, days bleeding into each other. I had decided to start writing weekly messages to my team - we had all gone remote and most of us were in lockdown. I hoped to stay in touch with them and share with them what was happening in my life, as a way of inviting them to stay connected and share what was going on in theirs. I’ve never shared it publicly before, but I’ve posted it in the DB Exclusives section for those of you who might like to read why peak Jurgen was so, so good. 

Before you do, I have one final observation to share. Please recognize you are the hero of your own story, and the things you truly, truly want in this world are not elusive, but there for the taking. They demand your love, generosity, and compassion, but there is no scarcity in that measure; peak “you” is us discovering together what this truly means. 

By grace, may we all find new heights - J