Much research has been conducted and it is now a widely-accepted idea that the more “active” we stay, the happier and healthier our golden years will be. This past summer, a friend informed me that she was committing to 100 days of 30 minutes of exercise daily. I thought that sounded like something I could do and leapt onboard. Somewhere around day 45 I realized that this is a habit that, no only can I live with, but no longer feel I can live without! Why did I deprive myself of all the wonderful feelings, physical and emotional, that result from taking care of my body!? As American operatic soprano Beverly Sills once said, "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
I walk for my 30 minutes, first thing in the morning if possible. Some days are more difficult than others. On those days the bliss may not come until the halfway –turn-around-and-go-home–point. Most days I feel much better before I even leave my driveway!
As John Wooden said, "Nothing will work unless you do." I knew back in the fall when the days were turning crisp that the winter walks would be more challenging. I invested in an inexpensive down jacket, lined pants and a really good cap (I look funny, but who cares!). Unless it is pouring rain or sleet or snow… I’m like the mail… I’m walking. I have found many blessings from my newly-acquired habit.
Aside from the endorphins that lift my mood for the entire day, and my gratitude for my health, my Creator usually deposits some sweet blessing along my way. One day it was getting to see the peacocks who live down the road, on another it was several deer leaping across my path, and then there was the morning a red-headed woodpecker chased two magpies out of his territory, noisily across the sky. I am indeed blessed to live in the country where my entire walk looks like a beautiful landscape painting: old growth oaks, rolling hills, and the classic blue mountains in the distance.
If you battle depression, aches and pains, apathy or loneliness, may I give you my prescription? Walk 30 minutes a day and let me know if it doesn’t “rock your world.” Success speaker and Author Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul) is credited as saying, "Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it."
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