We met with Yurii in the center of Kyiv to ask him about his lifestyle. Yurii retrained from calling himself a journalist to calling himself a storyteller — since for almost twenty years now, he's been telling stories in all kinds of formats: essays, podcasts, scripts, lectures, exhibitions, and museums. He's worked with United24, Platfor.ma, Forbes, Esquire, Vogue, Playboy, Ukrainska Pravda, NV, Suspilne, and Skvot. He's written a few books and dreamed up a few games. He's built a house, planted a garden, and raised a pug. One of the happiest people in the galaxy and its surrounding neighborhood. He has a HURU A backpack.
What's a typical day like for you? What's on the routine list?
In the morning I try to wake up and actually get up. Sometimes only the second part works out. Then the usual stuff, reading the news, and one slightly embarrassing thing — I always check in on this dumb mobile game where I'm the leader of an insanely powerful Ukrainian clan. I'd have quit ages ago, but come on, what would the clan do without me.
Also, back during the pandemic I did a bunch of interviews with psychologists, and they kept saying that in crazy times it helps to have a stable routine for everyday stuff — like a framework to hold your life up. And honestly, things don't get much crazier than now, so I try to always eat at the same time. Just different food each time.
Three things you always carry in your backpack?
I like knowing my bag has stuff that could randomly come in handy. Like a little knife and a corkscrew, a power bank, a lighter (I don't smoke, but knowing how to make fire has been a flex for a few hundred thousand years). Also press accreditation from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And 500 hryvnias — in case I end up in some world with no tech and suddenly need cash for something.
Never used any of it, not once. But I'm still not giving it up.
Comfort or style?
Honestly I don't think that's even a real fight anymore. Lucky for all of us, the world's gotten to the point where even stilts or a guillotine can be made comfy.
But if I had to pick, comfort, probably. A couple years back I had a backpack custom-made, planned out exactly where everything should go, came up with all these fancy pockets and clasps. Came out looking super stylish. And super annoying to actually use. So now it just sits in my closet, probably wondering, "...what even am I?"
How do you unwind after a rough day?
I sit, or ideally lie down, and think bitterly, "ugh, what a rough day." Or I go work out. You just run off somewhere with no destination, or grunt through some dumbbells, and suddenly there's no time left to think about how much everything sucks.
Actually not long ago I was mentally wiped out, so I went for a run, grabbed the audiobook of historian Plokhy's "The Gates of Europe" — and got so into all the Scythians and princes that I accidentally ran a half marathon. Physically the day got even worse after that, but mentally? Great. The princes won.
What's your must-have travel kit for long trips?
I've been lucky — traveled a ton, been to over 50 countries. Over time my whole "must-have kit" thing turned into: keep it minimal. I love going somewhere with basically two items to my name. Ideally stuff that's already on its last legs. So I just wear it out, toss it, and buy something new along the way. Keeps the bag light and refreshes the wardrobe at the same time.
What changed your whole outlook on life?
Like, the first time I went abroad — and somehow it was straight to London, no easing in. First I got my one and only visa rejection ever, so, sulking, I went to a music festival in Lviv instead. Then in the middle of a Gogol Bordello show, I get a message that the visa actually came through and my flight out of Kyiv is the next afternoon. I hitchhiked back on some truck, barely made it to the airport, and — still with a mix of Lviv and Kyiv dust on my sneakers — ended up standing in Piccadilly Circus.
Multilingual noise, colorful people, street names I used to write in school English essays. Some guy nearby, dark-skinned, walking along muttering "weed, coke, weed, coke." A cop in that classic helmet a couple meters behind him, keeping an eye out just in case someone wanted to buy from the menu. Weird people spilling out of Soho bars. Taxi cabs looking exactly like in the movies. And I still had a whole week of London ahead of me.
I think that's when it clicked that travel is the best investment there is. You literally trade money and time for experiences. Hard to beat that deal.
One rule you live by?
Appreciate the good moments while they're happening. Most people only feel happy looking backward — like, "a year ago we sat by the sea with the person we love, that was happiness." I'm just glad I can sit there right now, look at the water, and actually realize happiness is happening live, in real time.
Advice for people starting out in journalism?
Don't take the job too seriously. Because that usually just stiffens everything up and turns a story into some cinderblock of bureaucratic jargon and half-page sentences. Underneath all the tech changes, journalism is still the same thing: find something out, then tell people about it. Ideally something actually interesting and important, not "some minor celebrity from a forgotten show bought yogurt" news.
But really, our whole world runs on stories — journalism was just the main tool for telling them to a lot of people at once. Now you don't even need media for that, thanks to social networks anyone can tell their story to billions. Journalists are grieving. Everyone else, not so much.
What would you tell yourself 10 years ago?
Easy — it's all gonna be fine. And when things get bad (they will), ask yourself: is this really gonna feel like some earth-shattering disaster a year from now? Usually, no. So don't stress so hard. Just live your life.