Walking

Yesterday has been the first day since the surgery I walked a substantial amount (with a leg brace on and another 2 weeks of this thing).

And while walking, I realised that I have to write about how much I love to walk. It's my favourite physical activity. It heals the soul and is good for you (maybe not at all times in Chine and/or Shanghai with air quality being horrid but even then preferable to being sedentary).

As a kid I hated walking. I vividly remember one birthday (I must have been around 12 or turned 13 or so) when my family decided to tae us kids to a lake and stay in a camper/bungalow for a week or two. It was great, there was nature, us kids quickly made friends, I had my He-Man figurines and there was a cinema right at the entrance of the park for cheap. So on my birthday my parents have the audacity to 'walk'. Around the lake was the plan. On my birthday they decide we all should walk. This didn't bode well with me and I threw a fit. What's walking? Boring! Would have much rather watched another movie in the cinema or anything really BUT walking.

How the tides have changed.

I love, love, love walking. Going from a place to a place or to run an errand or to discover new parts of the city, the woods or whatever tickles my fancy. My love for walking goes so far that some of my friends are (most of the time playfully but sometimes really) annoyed with it.

I prefer walking to riding my bicycle, but the bicycle comes in handy too if bigger distances have to be covered.

Walking unhindered and in my usual above average speed (5 kilometres per hour seems to be average) is the thing I look most forward to and that I will enjoy whenever I feel like it. Just that 9 kilometres yesterday lifted my spirits tremendously and gave me sore calves today. I feel great and have to put to digital paper how much I like walking.

My brain is working so much better and my mind is clear. It is absolutely beneficial to have walks through nature, there is this fantastic New York Times article that goes a bit deeper than my positive ramble.

Now let me ramble a bit about the state of the world (completely anecdotal of course) when it comes to walking. I find it baffling how people here take the elevator to go one floor up or down. People call taxis and wait longer for the taxi and the trip included might be a bit faster than walking the whole way. To me, the process of calling a taxi and waiting for said taxi is definitely more annoying than walking 5 to 10 minutes longer. It's also fantastic t walk a couple of kilometres home after a few alcoholic drinks too many.

Walking is great to explore a city or place. Walking is great for your body and mind. Humans have made evolutional trade-offs to be able to walk on two feet (we are more efficient than chimps that way) and we are therefore made to wal, for long distances or stretches of time with not too much energy expended. Again we are efficient walkers, so there is no real excuse to not use our legs more for walking.

Tim Ferris has a good morning routine, but I would argue, even though it is just a side-note in that article, that everyone has that hour a day one can use for walking. Add it up! Sometimes I get out a station or two earlier out the metro because I would have to interchange and find that less preferable than to walk and enjoy my feet on the ground and my thought to myself.

Anyway! I love walking and can't wait to get back to the good amount of it I did before. Just hope you like walking too, because with me as a friend you will inevitably do more of it.