A New Daily Walking Practice

I’ve been deliberately paying attention to my emotions recently, feeling happy as much as I can, appreciating things more and finding good things that surround me. It’s made quite the difference in everything I do. My weight has been an issue for me for a long time, since I had my last child 7 years ago. I’ve been fighting with myself and putting myself down for that entire time, being mad at myself for not going to the gym, not putting fitness as a priority. But something changed in the past few weeks. I kept feeling like walking is something I should do. If I can walk 1 hour each day (on my lunch), it would not only give me the opportunity to get in that fitness that I’ve needed and wanted, but it would also allow me to see more things around the city, it would give me an opportunity to feel appreciation for even more.

I picked an odd time to start this walking thing. I live in Canada…we have winter, and it gets COLD. But also, I have a good coat, warm boots, gloves, hats and scarves to keep me warm. Usually, the cold is something that would deter me from doing almost anything, but I felt kind of excited about it. I like to take inspired action these days because any other time I took action, uninspired, I would always fail or quit. And of course, that’s ok but I am really trying to be intentional these days with everything I think and everything I do.

Walking these past few weeks, every day for usually an hour, has brought me another level of happiness. Whether it’s cold wind blowing or ice pellets smashing me in the face, I have come to really enjoy that one hour walk that I take. There were days this past week where I thought maybe I should just pass and do it the next day, but I push through, go out and am very happy when I do.

However, this past week I have been watching my friends dog. I don’t like dogs sitting in the house all day so I feel pressure to take them out often. And because of that, I have walked almost 40,000 steps in the past three days; my feet, hips and legs are killing me. Now I understand that this is a lot of walking for someone who is just starting out, but I also realized that if I am going to continue to walk, I will need a pair of shoes that are meant for such walking.

As I begin my search for a great pair, any help is greatly appreciated. I understand there can be many factors in finding the right pair for your feet, so I am definitely looking for help from those shoe fans!

Sincerely, Christine