Walking for Health

It goes without saying that any body movement you perform -- whether it be running, walking, lifting weights, or even sex -- has a positive effect on your health.  For me, however, walking has been a lifesaver.  I work too much (which I am going to cut back on when this job's contract is up) and that means that I usually get home after dark and feel like there isn't enough time to do all of the following: hang with my family, do something creative, and exercise.  These are the three things that I value the most in life (plus, TV shows nudge their way in, too) so exercise tends to hit the road first.  For the most part, though, I move quite a lot.  Thanks to walking.

First let me preface.  My commute to work is about forty minutes door-to-door.  That includes a walk to the station, a train ride, and a short bus.  It's annoying, but thank the gods for the invention of the iPod.  I usually listen to podcasts and/or music to occupy my time.  And the funny thing is that I only live about 5 km from my work, but public transportation is just so much easier than buying a car and the parking spots.

I don't enjoy the rat race, but thanks to walking I have learned to enjoy the commute.  The 5 km walk takes just under an hour.  When I'm strolling slowly home with a beer in tow, maybe it takes 70 minutes.  A pause in the park or a stop in the store isn't uncommon.  I even stopped to smell a flower this week.  Sure beats filing into a silver tube full of familiar faces whom I abhor to see because the connotations that go with them revolve around themes of indentured servitude, peer pressure, and coercion.  On some level, isn't society just an amalgamation of the three?

But I choose to walk.

I walk past bushes and trees.  I take different routes and see different faces.  I choose my own pace and have a venue to imagine -- a venue without ceilings that obstruct the effervescent azure sky that the workplace already masks quite often enough.

Thank you walking.  Goodbye rat race.