Long Time, No See...what a difference a walk makes and how to improve your life in 15 minutes a day

I started this blogpost before I left for class this morning and little did Iknow how I would be inspired to change the content before I got home to finish. We'll start here though....

Tuesday morning 5:00am

Well, I don't have to write about how busy I am, so I'll skip that... But as busy as I am, the habits I've established for good health and fitness have not been compromised. I've been too tired to blog, but not to think of what I would blog about if I had the energy. Lots of thoughts and ideas inspire me daily, so I thought I would share one with you this morning.

Walking. Recently I started to incorporate walking back into my schedule after a long, long absence. Walking was absent from my schedule only because it just didn't make the priority list. I work out enough already don't I? Well, that may be true, but for me walking serves a much bigger purpose. Taking a walk is about reconnecting with myself both mentally and physically in motion. It's my body's time for meditation...it's active recovery. I'll write more about it soon, but in the mean time let me share something that I've been thinking about.

I used to walk almost everyday, even after I lost all of my extra bodyweight, for the reason I just explained. So I started to schedule time to walk again but was hard for me to fit it in regularly. What I mean by regularly is at least 5 days out of 7. I started to think about how "hard" it was to walk everyday in addition to everything else I put on my plate (no pun intended!).

I love walking at a local 2 + mile trail, but I also like walking at a track, especially the Stanford track in PA (thanks Polina for turning me on to it!). It takes me 35 minutes to walk my local trail, and when I walk the track it takes about 16 minutes per mile when I'm not booking it! I ususally walk 2 miles in about 32-34 min. If I don't take into acount the drive time it can be quite a commitment I admit, even for me. Sure I can walk out my front door and get a 2 mile done without the extra time, but I prefer not walking on the street with cars and dogs and street lights! But I used to walk in my neighborhood regularly and it's something that I wouldn't let stop me if I make the commitment.... The commitment.

Twice a year my yoga studio holds a 60 day challenge, once in January, and once in July. The challenge in Jan. is always packed, and the one in July starts out with a bang, but because of the time of year it fizzles out quickly! July is much harder to commit a daily "anything" to! This idea of a challenge is common in the KB community when it comes to "Swings". A swing challenge is not a problem for me, I swing 1000's of reps a week anyway, so I never even think to participate, although I do understand how challenging this is for most people, especially for those not in the "business" of training.

So what about a "walking" challenge. How hard is it to walk everyday? Just 1 mile? 1 mile! 1 mile is 15 minutes of your life, or my life. What would happen if we spent just 15 minutes everyday connecting with ourselves, or with a friend or family member, while doing something that helps establish the most basic level of health and fitness?

I wanted to suggest a "one mile everyday walk challenge" in the month of May, but as you can see May already started! Goodness it just snuck up on me.....you too? So it's too late right? I thought about just giving up on the idea, but I think it's such a good one so I've simply rescheduled the start date.

This Sunday, or Monday, either on Mother's day, or the day after, I am going to commit to walking a mile every day for 30 days. If you see this kind of challenge as a reward to yourself you might start it on Mother's Day, but I'm sure alot of people will be busy and asking anyone to take 15 minutes out of their day would be a challenge in itself. (really? Maybe you can get up early and start the day out right!)

May is the busiest month for me with some very, very important deadlines related to my book, but no out of town commitments. I'll start on Mother's day and end on June 7th, 30 days later......

this is the new inspiration that came to me while I was walking this morning.....

8:00am Stanford track

I could have skipped this idea of walking one mile everyday until this Sunday, as planned, but I had 35 minutes this morning before running errands and decided that although my official start date will be this Sunday that I would get into practice now.

While I was walking I was thinking about finishing this blogpost. Hmmnn...one mile everyday is only 15 minutes, but it's the "everyday" part that is a bigger challenge for me, and I'm sure for everybody else. So what is the message, the point that I'm trying to make? Well, at first I thought it was about establishing a really healthy habit. Not just the exercise part of it but the connection to our physical bodies as part of it. So if the message is really about establishing a healthy habit, and everything related to health includes our physical bodies then what difference does it make how you do that. I can do it by walking but I can name a few other things that I could take as little as 15 minutes to do....one of them is to stretch or foam roll.

How about making your lunch everyday, or maybe 15 min of unweighted Get-ups? (I'd like to do that one!). I already meditate at least 15 minues a day....what could you do? What habit can you start this Sunday for 30 consecutive days that only takes 15 minutes and would improve your life?

I'll make one more commitment and I'll start it today too. One blogpost a day for the next 30 days. I'm going to become a short storyteller!