Day 1055 - the trek continues...

Yes, I’m still walking 10,000 steps each day, and haven’t missed a day for nearly three years now. That is, I guess, an awful lot of steps, but it is now a thoroughly engrained habit, despite the hurdles in the way - blizzards, being (small) shipbound, long-haul flights, for example.

It has occasionally required some rather cute scheduling, and imaginative solutions - the multiple laps of a rather small, overcrowded corporate jet lounge at Stansted required persistence and an acute resistance to boredom - plus some luck - if the sea had been rough the day we sailed to the edge of the polar pack ice, I probably wouldn’t have been allowed on deck to walk the many laps of the ship that I did.

But small changes of habit have made it easier. Walking up and down railway platforms when arriving early for my train, getting out to walk around Ipswich during my lunch break, these make the task that bit less daunting.

In turn, as I walk more, walking becomes easier, and journeys I might otherwise have made by public transport are now done on foot. It often surprises me how close together places are when you walk between them.

I accept that it isn’t for everyone. You do need to set aside time, and not everybody can do that. For others, health and physical wellbeing are serious hurdles to getting out and about. But for me, walking allows me to listen to some music, allow my mind to wander a bit, and just relax. Sometimes, something that has been rattling around in the back of my head emerges blinking into the light, and I come up with a solution.

But, most of all, it has enabled me to shed some of the excess weight I’d put on, and make clothes buying something less of a hassle as I return to a more well provided for size. I feel a bit better for it in health terms, although I’d probably feel even better if I lost another forty-five pounds. But let’s not get carried away here...

And so, I carry on, getting the steps done each day, feeling good for having maintained some discipline and persistence. It does feel pretty good...