Although I think I must be at least a reasonably disciplined person, I’ve never been one to commit to doing anything on a daily basis. I’ll decide to do yoga every day, warm up for 30 minutes before practicing violin, get up at 7am, meditate, write, whatever, and I’ll do it for 3 days before slipping back into familiar habits.
In college, I was given an assignment to make one positive change in my diet (it was a nutrition class) over the course of the semester. On the last day of class, I sat and listened as my classmates gave presentations on how they successfully drank 8 glasses of water a day, switched to whole grain bread, incorporated more vegetables into their diet, or stopped drinking coffee. Then I had to stand up and report that I’d tried–and failed–to stop eating after 10pm. I know you are envisioning french fries at a bar, but my downfall was, in fact, Grape-Nuts with soy milk in front of my Toshiba laptop in my room. I am but a feeble human.
It will surprise you to know, then, that I have gone on the same 40-minute walk in my neighborhood every day for the past 4 weeks. (Almost…I missed 2 days.) I can’t account for this, except to say that The Route is magic. I stumbled into it 4 Sundays ago when I turned left instead of right at a certain juncture, and my meandering stroll became a beautifully symmetrical path through a park that took 40 minutes to complete, an amount of time that seemed to wring out whatever needed to be wrung out of my body and mind. And then I became addicted.
My walk has become something to build my day around. If I know I’m leaving the house at 10am and won’t be home until after dark, I get up earlier than usual. I try to leave my phone at home so I won’t be tempted to stop on the street corner and send an email. It is free time for my mind–my feet follow the path, but my mind wanders. The positive effects of this routine have been numerous and unexpected. Here are some.
- Abs. I have them now.
- Digestion. It’s just better.
- Cardiovascular health. I feel like I’m in shape, a feeling I thought you could only achieve through punishing yourself with strenuous exercise.
- Problem-solving. When you’re walking, ideas come without being called.
- It’s easier to make other healthy choices. One of the days I missed, I missed because we were experiencing sideways freezing rain. I felt like the time had already been carved out for me, so I did yoga instead.
- I used to get to the end of the day and feel like I hadn’t done anything good, even if I’d been working on my computer, practicing, and doing housework all day. I never feel like that anymore.
- I see people being kind to their kids, their neighbors, their dogs, strangers, stray cats, and themselves. My newsfeed paints a different picture of the world.
- I see other people living their lives–taking their kids to the playground, collecting carts from the Chimbo parking lot, sitting on their front porch, waiting for the bus. This offers perspective that is hard to get from inside your house.
- Other people want to go on The Walk with me. My husband joins me about half the time, and a friend joined us the other day.
- I feel happy knowing that I can continue this habit well into my old age. Maybe I’ll slow down, but walking is something I can do even when I’m not feeling all that energetic.
- I can feel the days passing. I am present for my life.
Given my track record, I am in no position to tell you to adopt a similar habit. But I hope you will. As I posted on Instagram on Day 5, “Find your route and walk it every day. Good things will follow.”
