List #9: 30 Things I Wasn’t That Grateful For But Am Now
30 Lists of 30 to Celebrate my 30th Birthday
The What & Why Behind This Project:
This year I turn 30. And my gosh, I have been thinking about it a lot. I don’t know if it’s the pandemic, or the fact that this milestone is loaded with many societal expectations, but my mind has inundated me with reflections and memories from the past, with questions arising about my life choices and lesson learnt, about my expectations of being a human and about my desires for the future. And this combined with pandemic reflections has meant there has been a lot on my mind….🤔
I started writing a series of questions and lists of all the elements I wanted to capture and articulate. There were a lot, unsurprisingly; 30 years is a long time really! So I gave up on the 1 list idea that I normally write (30 reflections/lessons turning 30) and decided to write 30 lists.
30 Lists of 30, for my 30th Birthday.
Who are these lists for, you might wonder? I started writing reflections many years ago to get to know myself better. And when I shared these raw and real accounts with friends I discovered that what I wrote about my individual journey, touched upon something universally human. Beyond the masks and labels we wear is a messy, beautifully complex life, with highs and lows. And more similar to others than we might think.
So I share them in the hope that you too might feel something — intrigue, joy, resonance or maybe even difference — as you reflect on what it means to be a human. I recognise that my experiences are my own, that some come from a place of privilege and that they may not all be relatable or interesting to you. I know I can’t please everyone, so take what you can…(and let me know what lands!).
So, Back to Lists…
The Why Behind List #9: 30 Things I Wasn’t That Grateful For But Am Now
We take a lot for granted growing up and it is often only when something is removed in your life do you notice how valuable that thing was in the first place. These days I try an embrace a gratitude mindset each day by taking the time to notice the things that make the day easy, beautiful or meaningful. This mindset is particularly helpful when life seems to not be going the way you want it to, and it seems like you have nothing, when actually you have a lot going for you. When you feel scarcity, gratitude converts this to a sense of abundance.
List #9: 30 Things I Wasn’t That Grateful For But Am Now
- My Mum — for her tireless commitment to supporting me and my siblings through good and bad times, her kind and unconditional love and support and her childlike playfulness.
- A functioning body with energy, that allows me to walk, dance, move and do stuff with my life. Having lost much of my energy and my ability to run at various times in my life, you begin to realise that having a healthy body is essential.
- A functioning optimistic mind that doesn’t cast a dark depressive cloud over every part of life.
- Flowers and plants. Their ever-changing beauty really inspires, calms the mind and can transform a space.
- My family, generally. Always there to celebrate achievement, pick up the pieces and tease me until I'm laughing.
- A great night’s sleep — 8.5–9 hrs in a soft bed & a dark room. It really does transform creative and productive abilities and general wellbeing.
- Customer services people that are real people, not machines. Friendly, relational humans with quirks, who seek to understand and don’t stick to scripts in their conversation.
- Excellent hipster coffee that tastes delicious and delivers an amazing high!
- Written thank you letters. As a child, my Mum used to make us write to say thank you to anyone who gave us gifts, had us to lunch or to stay. At the time these felt like such a pain to write but I now realise how important it is to take the time to say thank you in a meaningful way.
- Feeling safe walking the streets at night. This is one of those privileges that you don’t necessarily realise until you’re in a context where it doesn’t exist. I love the freedom I have to move around the city at night without having to constantly be on edge.
- Travel. COVID (and the lack of travel) has perhaps reminded us of this great privilege to literally be in another country (or even continent) within a few hours — by train, bus or air.
- Teachers who cared about me emotionally and not just for my grades. When I think about how busy teachers how, and how many children they are responsible for, I feel a deep sense of appreciation. Teachers are often like an extension of your parents (they sometimes see you as much if not more) and play a pivotal role in guiding their students, as well as helping them feel safe, seen and appreciated.
- Next day delivery for pretty much everything. It really is crazy how quickly you can get a desire or need satisfied and how much this is not the status quo.
- Feeling the fullness of raw, deep, intense feelings (e.g. sadness & anger) that put you in touch with the world and yourself.
- The low probability of life (The Big Bang) and all moments that do happen in our lives, where so many things had to happen first for them to happen. Grateful too for the finite quality on time that highlights the value of the moments that we do have now.
- Seasons and the rituals to mark them. They bring a wonderful rhythm to life, helping us become aware of time passing and how we might like to change our routines and habits and bring out a different side of ourselves. Plus, each season shows a different side of natural beauty.
- Spoken appreciation in the moment. I used to believe that rare compliments were more valuable so I held back in giving them. Now I see the enormous value in helping others be seen by sharing how you are touched by something or someone in a given moment.
- Cuddle puddles & massage! Touch really is a secret weapon.
- Dance — a true act of self-expression. We have the ability to move our bodies in flow with music and each other and feel so alive and connected.
- Nature. Parks, lakes, woodland, the coast… a world full of natural beauty ready to be explored, appreciated or simply absorbed. Shinrin Yoku, anyone?
- Any cuisine from across the world that you could ever crave available within 1 hour.
- Play. Literally the best way to express our creativity.
- Google maps & Sat Navs. I used to carry round a small pink map of London book that helped me get to know the streets. I still can’t get over how easy it is to get to new places you have never been to before without any effort at all.
- Colour, everywhere, in everything. The more I look and notice, the more I appreciate the aesthetics of life.
- Acts of service (& 5 min favours) from others. Being made a cup of tea or freshly made meals, someone fixing broken things, fresh sheets on the bed, being introduced to someone, book, music or podcast suggestions.
- Weird friends who don’t do life normally and create permission and inspiration for other ways of living and being.
- Long school holidays. Weeks of lying about in the sunshine reading,exploring, playing, treehouses and deep friendship. Disconnected from the world.
- The internet & smart phones. I can take endless notes on the go, play whatever music I feel like and receive any kind of stimuli I feel like searching for and contact or make friends with a whole bunch of strangers with related interests who live thousands of miles away. Strangers can impact each others lives and also email each other to share this!
- No wifi or signal locations. Pure uninterrupted, un-guilty, distraction less time given to just experiencing life.
- Books. Access to a plethora of other (sometimes dead) peoples’ deep thoughts and ideas.
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Want To Read More Lists?
I’m publishing one list every day in August (and will add the hyperlinks below).
- 30 Reasons Why I’m Writing 30 Lists of 30
- 30 Questions I’m Living Right Now
- 30 Ways To Have An Awesome Conversation
- 30 Risks I Took & What I Learnt
- 30 Ways to Create and Cultivate Community
- 30 Questions I Reflect on Every Saturday Morning
- 30 Essential Items I Pack Backpacking
- 30 Skills We Need But Don’t Teach
- 30 Things I Wasn’t That Grateful For But Am Now
- 30 Reflective Questions that Lead to Fascinating Conversations
- 30 Signs I am Most Definitely an Adult
- 30 Beliefs I Changed about Myself & Life
- 30 Games I’m Playing in Life
- 30 Confusing Messages I’ve Internalised About Who To Be & How to Live
- 30 Ways I’m Totally Imperfect
- 30 Considerations for Designing Meaningful Human Connection Experiences
- 30 Mundane Experiences That Can Actually Be Quite Magical
- 30 Words To Describe Elements of My Pandemic Experience
- 30 Things I’ve Learnt About Human Behaviour That Show Up Everywhere
- 30 Words I Love
- 30 Parts of Me
- 30 Principles I Live By
- 30 Lessons from 5 Years of Entrepreneurship and Creating
- 30 Health, Productivity, Creativity and Happiness Optimisation Experiments I’ve Explored And The Life Hacks that Resulted From Them
- 30 Things I am Proud of (Achieving) Before 30
- 30 Experiences (& Goals) For the Next 10-ish Years
- 30 Things I Need To Let Go As I Move Forward Into The Next Chapter
- 30 Journal Entries from the Last 20 Years
- 30 Lists That Didn’t Make it to the 30 Lists
- 30 Reflections Writing 30 Lists of 30
Follow me on Medium to read them.
Still Curious?!
💬 Watch my TEDx talk: Talking to Strangers: Having a Meaningful Conversation
📖 Read about some of my work recently published in Entrepreneur.com How to Become a Master at Talking to Strangers
✍️ Stay connected through Conversations With Georgie: The Home of My Thoughts as a Life-Long Learner. Curious. Deep. Exploratory. Real and Raw.
📧 Contact Me: Georgie@Triggerconversations.co.uk
