Walking saved my life
Flashback to four years ago and I was a chef/owner of a small restaurant in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago. My business wasn’t ‘doing very well and my stress levels were through the roof. I was middle-aged morbidly obese chef who hadn’t really given his health much thought over the course of my career. I was focused on getting better, learning, making connections, I was very ambitious. My dream was to open my own restaurant and I had accomplished that, my only problem being that it was nothing at all what I thought it was going to be like. I was a competent chef but a lousy business man. I realized that I was going to have to walk away from my business for my health. Not just physical, but mental, emotional, and spiritual health as well. I coudn’t sleep, ate a steady diet of take-out food, and thought about money constantly. Sooner or later I was going to have a stroke or heart attack and I knew this.
About the time I had figured out an exit strategy, I embarked on a fitness/wellness journey that continues to this day. I started to take short walks, mostly to and from the restaurant. I bought a fitness tracker, and became obsessed with stats. At first it was hard to even walk for more than 15 minutes, my knees and ankles hurt. Years and years of being on my feet for 12–15 hours had decimated my knees and lower back. Just the act of walking was painful. But I knew I had to push myself to do something.
A few months later I added strength training, something I had done regularly when I was a young man. My body began to change, albeit not fast enough for me. I started to drop weight right away but leveled off after awhile. But I found myself feeling better despite what the scale had to say and I started to notice little everyday things became easier and my aches and pains began to lessen.
I added meditatioin to help train my mind. I quickly realized how much trauma the stress I had endured had taken a toll on my mental health. Meditating on a regular basis helped me to understand how important it is to live in the present, enjoy and appreciate right now, not obsessing about the past or future. I’ve come to understand that thoughts are just that, thoughts, I don’t have to act on them or feel overwhelmed by them.
I started watching what I put in my body. I didn’t feel the need to try a fad diet, I felt they wouldn’t work. I had a simple approach, eat as many whole foods as possible, eat a lot more vegetables and fruit, and don’t order out more than once a week, if that. I changed up portion sizes and used a food journaling app to keep track of calorites. It’s worked, and I read everything I could get my hands on about nutrition and exercise. I started to feel so much better.
But the constant has always been walking. I have walked during a snow storm, in the rain, on hot muggy days, and days so cold and windy I my beard and mustache froze. I walked in the early morning, afternoons, and early evening. I have walked on city streets, forest preserves, outdoor trails, and shopping malls. I have walked on holidays, birthdays and anniverseries. I have walked and listened to seemingly a million podcasts, audio books, and numerous spotify playlists. I have walked in three different states and countless neighborhoods.
And the thing that has occured to me is that I have felt great after each and every one. There was not one time I regretted going for a walk, no matter how long or short. In fact the more I walk the better i feel. I’m going to try to walk a 5k every day for a month, just for the hell of it and so far it has been thoroughly enjoyable. But the fact that I can walk for an hour and a half with little to no pain is a huge accomplishment for me. I still have small aches and pains, but I feel so different than I did three years ago. Walking has helped in so many ways. I remember listening to a podcast, and one of the guests gave thier definition of happiness. To him it was when he was so enthralled in the moment, that he no longer thought about anything else except the thing he was doing, that for him was the definition of joy. It hit me that walking allows me that same freedom, sometimes I do get lost in my own thoughts, but many times I am not thinking about my problems at all, in fact many times I am not thinking about my problems at all, a real gift.
Walking as changed my life and is, I think, the most under rated form of fitness there can be. It costs nothing, except a decent pair of shoes. No special equipment, no gym fees, no subscriptions, nothing. It has given me a way to improve my overall health enjoying being outdoors and enjoying all the things nature has to offer even in a big city. I sleep better, i feel better, and I look better and the only thing I had to do was put one foot in front of the other.
