Giving Thanks

I ran the Barcelona Marathon last Sunday. I don't think I've ever been as grateful to cross a finish line. Hello and welcome to the 7th edition of The Daily Reset newsletter, my new book out 6th December.

I was incredibly grateful because the last 7-8km were the hardest of my life (a combination of being undertrained, age, and digging deeper than my fitness levels warranted). I was also grateful for my finishing time, which I never expected. Grateful too, that my almost 45 year old body can still do this. But I think I was most grateful for doing something I hadn't done in a long time, and sharing that experience with 15,000 other runners and tens of thousands of supporters across 42km of a city I love.

It was my first Marathon in over five years. Even accounting for the pandemic that is too long, and representative of me taking my eye off one of the most important elements of my life. I think we easily get caught up in the routine and busy-ness of life, and stop appreciating the things which make it special. I entered the 2022 edition on Monday.

It was a deeply emotional experience, and looking around, for many others too. The gratitude I saw, heard and felt made me think on the opposite I experienced when I was a younger (and admitedly faster) international athlete. Complaining seemed to be the norm. For both me and many of my contemporaries. "I should have been faster." "My tactics never worked out" "Next time I'll do this" or even just "It was OK" in the midst of congratulatory praise for a good performance. If I could say one thing to my younger self it would be Give Thanks. For the good, and for the bad.

The two nudges below fit this theme of Giving Thanks. The first is a general reflection on gratitude and fits with The Daily Reset being a journal as much as a book, so perhaps this gratefulness pratice could be recorded in the book. Second, we consider a practice, flying, that was much more common in our pre-pandemic lives. Might employing more of the natural wonder of children to other things in our life serve us well?

Step up, take part, give thanks. And, as I advise in the second nudge below, choose the window seat.

Thanks for reading this week and warm wishes for the weekend. Steven

PS: We've been distributing daily nudges for several weeks in an invitation-only Beta test. I'd love to open that up to anyone who is interested in the run up to publication. So, if you'd like to receive the nudges from the book via email from 22nd November to 5th December please sign up here - https://beta.dailyreset.me

The Power of Gratitude (Nudge #290/366)

Expressing gratitude is one of the simplest and most powerful tools at our disposal. It’s good for our bodies and our minds. Studies show the benefits to include increased happiness, optimism, and positive emotions, a stronger immune system, lower blood pressure, better sleep, and improved focus and determination to achieve ones’ goals. Recent research has even found that gratitude changes the prefrontal cortex area of the brain, which may support mental health in the longer term.

Keeping a gratitude journal is a common practice. Perhaps you express your gratitude to another person or engage in a benevolent act.

Or you can also just self-reflect, at the beginning or the end of your day: what do you have, right now, in your life that you are grateful for?

Do You Remember The First Time? (Nudge #230/366)

I was vaguely aware, when I sat down, of the others in my row.

But as we neared the end of the taxi and were in queue for takeoff, I began to pay closer attention to the young brother and sister glued to the window and talking excitedly to their mother. They hushed as we monetarily paused and then squealed with delight as we hurtled along the tarmac. Their enthusiasm was contagious. I found myself being swept along in their joy as we became airborne. It was the first time (as I enquired a few minutes later to their mother) that these young children had left the surface of the earth.

Studies show that the more people fly, the more likely they are to take the aisle seat. The Economist commented that the window seat is for dreamers and the aisle seat for cynics.

Our lives are often caught in a never-ending quest for convenience and optimisation. But, maybe, we should put that to one side now and again and fill ourselves with the childlike wonder of accelerating 0-180mph in ten seconds, propelling 300 metric tons of engineered marvel into the air before cruising at 37,000 feet and over 500mph. No matter how many times you’ve done it, I challenge you to try and capture the thrill of that first-time experience. It may come easier than you might expect.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Take the window seat.

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