On fresh starts ☼ Life-enhancing spaces ☼ A hot tub I need

Dearest internet friends,

It was really great to hang out with everyone who showed up to our LA Corporate Cookout. As you can see below, exemplary networking was conducted and the Q3 projections remain highly optimistic.

Hope to see you at the next one!

Much love,
Marty

Making the most of fresh starts

Life changes are like reset buttons for habits and routines. If you start a new job, or move to a tiny Mediterranean island, it feels like a new chapter. And a new chapter inspires you to think and act differently. In my recent move across the world, I set some pretty clear goals that I promised myself I'd follow religiously from day one:

1. Stop eating sugar & ultra-processed foods (shout-out this book for the push)
2. Exercise at least 3x per week (I'm not one to leave free serotonin on the table)
3. Find an active, offline hobby
4. Acquire a mid '90s Jeep Wrangler TJ with no doors or roof as my daily driver (a Suzuki Samurai would also be highly acceptable)

Six weeks in, I’m smashing the first two and I've kicked off the theory section of a freediving course. Maybe spearfishing next? I’m still working on #4. But I feel great. The diet and movement have bumped my brain up a good few IQ points from below-average territory, and I feel a lot more capable of handling things that felt overwhelming a month or two ago.

There are multiple reasons for why starting new habits after a big life change works. Psychologists say that temporal landmarks drive aspirational behaviour (even calling it ‘the fresh start effect’). When we have novel experiences, our brains release dopamine. And dopamine is the hormone that makes us feel happy and motivated. 

Naturally, there are certain aspects that automatically change as a direct correlation of a life event. But what if we harnessed the motivation we get from one big change, to upgrade multiple areas of our lives? 

How do we make the most of a fresh start? 

When Ghia Founder, Melanie Masarin, moved into her New York apartment, she used that time to set fresh intentions “make more money (much needed), date (also much needed), allow more time to be creative, dress up more?” and build her space around the type of routines she wants to have “In my second New York chapter, I wanted to be able to host: have an open door policy where friends would know they were welcome to ring and come up for a Ghia Spritz or a good story.” 

While a new apartment was the springboard for new behaviours, they weren’t all centred around the new apartment. And that’s the beauty of new beginnings: just because the change is in one part of your life (e.g. your career) it doesn’t mean it can’t transform others. You can use the ‘fresh start effect’ to improve any part of your life. 

What I love about this idea is that it can be both reactive or proactive. You can treat a big life change as a catalyst for better habits, or you can actively make a big life change to reset your habits. Either way, it shifts change from something scary and uncertain into something full of possibility and excitement.

Which life changes have given you a fresh start? And what new habits grew from them? Send me your stories at concierge@poolsuite.net

Hot Hyperlinks

☼ This 101 year old man believes that the beauty of your environment contributes to a long life. Of course, he lives in a home designed by legendary architect, Frank Llloyd Wright. 

☼ Not a dumb phone, but not a constant distraction in your pocket either. Super intrigued by what the team at Meadow are building. 

☼ My good friend Emma Chozick kicked off a new YouTube series this week named Surroundings: "Through layered storytelling and intimate conversation, we step inside the spaces of creative visionaries to ask, "What makes a space truly yours?". This landed at the perfect time as Alyssa and I can't stop talking about building our own studio space sometime soon.

☼ Leisure discovery of the week: Aperol Spritz on tap.

☼ “A visual treat. For almost eight whole minutes I forgot about the world and its problems.” That’s the top comment on this video about the garden at Hotel Corazón in Mallorca, and I couldn’t agree more.

Hotter Hyperlinks

Hand picked with the utmost care exclusively for Poolsuite Supporters - globally recognised as the most fervent of leisure enthusiasts.