New Book of Thanksgiving by Ernst-Jan Pfauth is a plea for gratitude
How a quest for self-improvement grew into a resistance against the achievement society’.
The Thanksgiving book by Ernst-Jan Pfauth, publisher and journalist at De Correspondent, will be in bookstores from tomorrow. A perfect CV, lots of Instagram followers and a sculpted body: in the performance society we constantly strive for the best version of ourselves, it’s never enough. Pfauth (1986) experienced herself that we forget to be grateful for what we already have and thinks it’s time for a counter-message: the Book of Thanks. A plea for gratitude and a diary in one.
Many people recognize the tendency to constantly think: how can my work be better, how can my life be better, how can I be better? A quick look at the bestseller list confirms this. It is full of self-help books. Ernst-Jan Pfauth also wanted to become the best version of himself. For two years he optimized himself with the help of self-improvement books. He learned to speak in public, he became more productive and got rid of his smartphone addiction.
One million Dutch people
The depth of self-help books led him to a storytelling series on De Correspondent. He was firmly convinced that you can get more out of your life with this. Yet Pfauth was agitated and chronically dissatisfied. The time he saved by working more effectively, he filled with even more work. Why did it feel to him like it was never enough? Life became one big competition that sometimes almost became too much for him. When he looked around, he saw that he was not the only one with this feeling. More than a million Dutch people suffer from burnout complaints.
He studied further and discovered that if you always strive for more and better, you forget to be grateful for what you already have. And this while research by behavioral scientists, neurologists, psychologists and experts shows that happiness is strongly related to gratitude.
Plea and diary
That’s why Pfauth wrote the Book of Thanks: a plea for gratitude. With his personal experiences and scientifically based tips, he wants readers to get more satisfaction out of their lives. It’s free of floaty sayings, mantras and overly long questionnaires. The strategies it contains you do not apply at once, but must be maintained daily.
That’s why the second part of the book is a diary for the reader himself. Easy to fill in and to take with you. Pfauth hopes that readers will ignite other people with their new gratitude routine. ‘Let’s not resign ourselves to the achievement society. Only together can we effectively resist it.’
The Thanksgiving Book is published by The Correspondent and will be in stores from September 5.
Others about the Thanksgiving Book
“I would have liked to underline all the tips. I’m going to read it again, and again. I recommend everyone to do the same.” – Sophie Hilbrand
“A hopeful book.” – David Van Reybrouck
“I fully endorse Pfauth’s plea for gratitude.” – Hugo Borst
