Life Fright

It all started with a trip to New York. It was my first time visiting and I was very excited to see the city and experience what it has to offer. I knew beforehand that NYC is very pedestrian focused so I made sure to pack tennis shoes anticipating that I would walk around a lot. I was not prepared for just how much walking though! Just an hour in from getting from point A to point B, my feet started to ache and each step I took was painful. I didn’t realize at the time that there was a solution to my dilemma and was just baffled that everyone else was outwardly having no problems whatsoever.

When I returned home, I had it in my head that it was all about endurance building. I live in a suburban area where there is more car usage than walking to get to places. So, I looked into getting a walking pad thinking that it was more lightweight, portable, and affordable than a traditional treadmill. After about a month of researching and returning one heavy 80lb walking pad, I had my 40lb walking pad all set up.

At first, I’m not going to lie, it was a learning curve getting used to the speeds and walking in place. But I persisted. Every day I showed up and walked for longer and longer, finally capping it at 30 minutes because it felt like an adequate amount of time without seeming like too much. And every day I would increase the speed by 0.2mph. I still remember the sense of accomplishment I would feel every time I was able to comfortably walk just 0.2mph more than my last record.

I started to notice patterns too. Over time, I could tell that I would work up a sweat at about the 10-minute mark. And my shin splints and aching feet were no longer a recurring issue for me. I started to notice that my clothes fit better particularly my bottoms. Previously, I would always have to squish myself into them and now they fit comfortably and some pairs even have extra wiggle room! For the first time, I understood why people struggle with the waist gap when I saw the issue on myself trying on a new pair of jeans in the dressing room. Most importantly throughout all this was realizing that good improvements to my life do not come easily, and at the same time, they do not have to be the most complicated. Yes, we’ve been told that exercise is important. But it doesn’t have to be dragging yourself to the gym and torturing yourself with fancy equipment and grueling workout routines to then spend the next week with sore muscles and aches and pains all over.

It really can be as simple as walking. The key it to show up consistently. Slow and steady wins the race. Sure, you could go full throttle to the max and do those rigorous regimens every day for hours a day along with a sad, bland diet and get results faster. But is it sustainable? And is it enjoyable? Sometimes it really is all about just starting and pushing on without overcomplicating it. There’s beauty in the simplicity of walking and it is exercise! Read more about the other quality of life improvements I got from my walking habit over here in my other post.