Reading Time: 2 minutesShow Appreciation and Say Thank You Every Day This Week
Simple Instructions:
- Each day intentionally thank someone for who they are or something they’ve done, and tell them why you’re thanking them.
- The person can be anyone at all from your spouse to your co-worker to the person bagging your groceries.
- They don’t have to have done something for you. You can show appreciation for something they did for someone else!
Watch this video for an explanation of this Lifestyle Practice from Whole Life Challenge co-founders Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck.
Why Is This Practice Important?
We all walk around with hidden appreciation for other people. For various reasons, we don’t always share it. Vulnerability, fear of feeling silly, and discomfort all get in the way of telling people we appreciate having them in our lives. This has an effect on them, too. Not feeling appreciated can leave people feeling disconnected and lonely.
I had a good friend once who got very sick. I remember thinking it would be easier in that situation, when you realize life can be so short, to tell someone how much they meant and why they were important — but it wasn’t. I don’t even know what I was protecting myself from. All I know is that I was so full of appreciation and gratitude for him, and was deeply frustrated at not being able to share it.
Making a practice out of the uncomfortable and unnatural is how we grow. We all want to feel like we connect and get connected to. The simple practice of saying “thank you” and sharing why something mattered changes everyone involved. People feel noticed and heard, and you get to feel the way that only gratitude can make you feel—known, heard, rich, and appreciated.
He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.
Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.
He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.
