About eight years ago I started trying to take a walk each day to help me get more exercise. I usually tried to walk around a mile, some days a little less, some a little more.
With my cell phone on my hip, it’s easy to keep track of the steps I’m taking and how far I go.
Unless it was raining or snowing or the wind was blowing really hard and it was terribly cold, I tried to walk sometime during the day.
An internist I was seeing back in 1983 told me, “It’s okay to walk all you want, I just don’t think you should run.” He went on to say, “That’s because running is killing people.”
He was serious about his thoughts. I’m not saying I agree or disagree with his thinking.
Some people prefer running, others power walk and then there are plenty of those, who like me, just walk.
Although I have tried to continue walking each day, I haven’t done a very good job of it lately. In fact I must confess, I haven’t walked regularly since last October just before Daylight Savings Time ended.
My wife Pat and I have talked about walking in the evenings again since DST began again on March 12. But it seems when we have had the time, it’s been cold, raining or extremely windy.
We need to get back in the groove, though, because we’ve found through these past few years when we were walking regularly it provides relaxation, time to reflect on our day, in addition to the exercise we’re enjoying.
When I have walked by myself it’s normally because Pat is tied up with something else. I haven’t been doing that like I used to prior to DST ending last fall.
It’s easy also to reflect on what has taken place over the years, during our almost 45 years of marriage and what is going on in the nation and world around us.
I do believe that when I walk it helps me to be more positive. It’s easy to get in the negative. It takes work to be positive.
Fortunately, I discovered that while walking is good exercise, these are some of the added benefits it provides.
Even though I didn’t necessarily start walking and exercising to lose weight, I have gone down a notch or two in the waist size.
But it’s time Pat and I start dedicating more time to walking and exercising, especially because it’s healthy and the other benefits it brings.