Like I said previously, I've had some problems with my feet. But what I didn't say is that I also have problems with my knees. They just don't work like they used to. I can't get up and down very well. When I say down, I mean I can't get down in the floor and then get back up unless I have something to get hold of and pull myself up. And I can't climb up on a step- stool, ladder, or go up stairs-- without support either. And I have to be careful when I sit down that my bottom is not lower than my knees or it's a VERY difficult for me to get up. Personally, I think a lot of the "damage" I have in my knees has come from my work both from abuse on the one hand but also because of just standing relatively still on concrete for long hours for years.
But, I've gone part time at work and the days I do work are not as long in hours as they used to be. So I DID START my walking plan. I live on the lower side of a circular road. From my house around the back side of the circle and up a hill then back to a level area is right at half a mile. Last Monday I began my walking regimen by going up that hill and then just a little further along the level at the top, then turning around and coming back. The whole walk takes about twenty minutes and it has been quite an effort for me. (That really bugs me because if there was thing I was when I was younger it was a walker. That incline would have been nothing for me to scale.) Anyway, I keep telling myself that it takes 21 days to make something a habit so THE IMPORTANT THING is for me to FIRST create the walking habit. I can still remember back when I did have that habit and if something interfered with my walk it seemed like a vital part of my day was missing. So right now I'm aiming to get that habit built into my life.
HABITS HAVE A MOMENTUM OF THEIR OWN. Once I get the habit established, then I can increase the amount of time I walk. But right now I'm still battling my unenergetic self (my feelings) to just get out there and walk. I "don't feel like doing it" so I don't want to. But I have pushed back on my feelings now and done it for eight straight days. I have 13 more to go and then I'll see if it's really true whether I "have the habit".
I just now did a quick search on the validity of that much quoted axiom and found, if you read my link, that it's not really true. But I need to do it anyway. And this article does say that they are splitting hairs about whether you're establishing a habit or a routine or ritual. Habits are mindless. Routines are determined changes. Oh, well. I was hoping for the mindless change, but I suppose life doesn't ever really work that way. However, I DO KNOW that I didn't even use to have to think about hitting the road first thing. It was built into the way I did things in my mornings and when I missed a morning of doing it, I went all day with that feeling somehow there was something important missing from my day.
