Hi everyone,

It's Craig McLean here. Firstly, a big thank you to Luke Brady, who has really run with the (Mindful) Monday Motivation routine – he does a great job, I’m sure you’ll agree. Also, big thanks to Drew and our guest editors for maintaining our newer Thoughtful Thursday newsletters. We still get loads of good feedback about the routine we started at the beginning of 2017. In fact, here is the first edition from March 2017, and all the previous Monday and Thursday emails can be found in our blog archive. If you ever want to get in touch with us about our emails, simply hit the 'reply' button.

I was fortunate enough to have had a little coastal vacay recently, and to spend some quality time with my family. I thought I would share with you some inspo I found whilst staring at the horizon, hence my return to newsletter writing.

Reading

I picked up innovator and big wave surfer Laird Hamilton’s book from 2008, called Force of Nature. The contents had four sections: Mind, Body, Soul and Surfing. Let me share his thoughts on fear…

“You can spend your life fence-sitting because you’re frightened of something bad that might happen or you can launch yourself into it with all of your conviction and all of your intelligence. Here’s my advice: Meet up with your fears. If you’re afraid of sharks, go learn all about sharks. Get into the water with one. If you respect fear, face it straight on and act anyway. What you’ll find isn’t terror –it’s exhilaration and the moments that you never forget.”

Listening

I was reminded by Jo Whiley on a great BBC programme that Coldplay released their first album, Parachutes, 20 years ago! As I was in a house with a record player, I thought it would have been rude not to order the vinyl direct from the band and give it a spin. Where were you 20 years ago, and what were you doing when you first heard these iconic tracks?

I listened to the first episode of The Joe Wicks Podcast where he interviews his first guest, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay – worth a listen to hear about Gordon’s love of exercise and his controversial lockdown escape to Cornwall. I see Fearne Cotton is guest two.

Are you a new dad struggling with the joys of becoming a parent in lockdown? Check out this podcast from comedy duo Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe.

Talking (and drinking)

Speaking of podcasts, over the last few months I’ve recorded 19 episodes of my own podcast for Chiro.London – who knew it would become an obsession of mine?! (Editor’s note: we did.) It’s a collection of chiropractic-focused chats with all the CL practitioners, plus a few bonus, not-strictly-chiro episodes in there, including detailed description of my bike lap of the M25 and my latest chat with the Finemore chiro brothers, which was recorded after sampling their Monterey Gin.

Don’t forget you can WIN FREE GIN by listening to the aforementioned episode, then commenting on this Instagram post with the answer to the following question: “What cocktail are we drinking at the beginning of the podcast?” A lucky winner will be chosen tomorrow at noon so get listening!

Watching

Do you remember this funny short film Luke mentioned in a previous MM that made me LOL so much? Well apparently it was made into a feature-length movie and will hopefully be released soon, whenever we can get back into theatres!

Thanks for reading and hope everyone is doing well with the current challenges of the time. Living through part of history is a strange experience, but let’s use this as a way to recharge our batteries, focus on what we can do to improve our health and be grateful for the daily little things we can do.

Have a great week,

Craig