Once you set your mind to walk

 


Image by Amore Seymour from Pixabay

So as my readers know, I have been struggling to get into a walking routine since the holidays. I thought my mindset would change at the beginning of January with New Year goals. Sadly, it’s been a whole downhill steep of not walking and in turn putting on weight. 

So I am proud to say, this week I have finally returned to walking 9,000 or more steps a day. What made the difference? 

Huge weight gain put on quickly over the holidays and a wake up call that I put nearly half the weight back on that I worked so hard to lose and maintain its loss over a year. 

Plus, I found some cool new walking tracks because my area, it’s noisey with traffic, so it becomes difficult to hear podcasts through my headphones with loud cars driving next to me and it’s just full of houses, which isn’t as enriching as other locations. 

But I have been walking in new areas, which in itself is more exciting because it’s new. I feel safe because there are lights and lots of people use the walking tracks. 

I have also moved to walking tracks where I am surrounded by nature. Without the headphones, I can hear the birds chirping or the tree leaves swaying in the breeze. Being close to nature is very relaxing, especially after a long day.

I have been intentional about what I will do while I walk, for example: I want to be dancing on a regular basis (see my dance blog for inspiration: https://melanietoyesdance.blogspot.com/?m=1) so one night I imagined I was dancing to the different songs playing. Being intentional means I get inspired or motivated in all my areas of life. 

Or I listen to pod casts to learn more and do research on certain topics. 

Or as stated above, I take my head phones out and really immerse myself with natures sweet noises.

There are lots of things to do while walking but the most important and key component is schedule time to walk.

I find if I don’t schedule or plan to walk, I don’t walk. And that’s where the problem starts because then I get lazy and a few days go by, ‘I will walk tomorrow.’ Tomorrow comes and goes and then it’s like, “I will walk next week.” And the routine drops be try quickly as well as the stamina.

So the point is, find a walking track, work out what time you are going to go and what you will do while walking or pod cast or music or even call a friend and then do it. And don’t be embarrassed if you walk the same track every day. If you enjoy it, you will keep up your walking routine. If you don’t enjoy it, find another walking track quickly. Don’t leave it more than a day to find something else. Or if you have a treadmill, prepare some movies or music playlist or pod casts and choose times either morning and afternoon or one big walk a day and go for it. 

#walkingforhealth #walkingroutine


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