Day One

Today I took the first step in what I hope will be a path that will lead to better health, exploration and peace of mind.  I took a walk.  That’s it, I just took a walk.  There was a time not that long ago that I could walk for miles.  After 10 months of knee pain, weight gain and then knee surgery 3 weeks ago, today’s .57 miles was a huge accomplishment for me.  I made a deal with myself.  I’m NOT calling it a resolution.  That implies pressure and more often than not, failure.

Instead I made a deal with my body.  I will take better care of it and in return it will hurt less and move more easily.  That sounds fair, doesn’t it?  I am going to go for a walk every single day.  No matter where I am, what the weather is like or how badly I just want to stay in my pajamas all day.  I will get UP, get dressed and get MOVING.  I’m not putting a specific time of day, distance goal or calories burned.  I am simply going to walk.  {Shopping and other everyday activities to not count towards this}. And over time my knee WILL get stronger as will the rest of my body.  Pretty soon I will hit one mile, then two, then maybe even 10 one day.  I will explore new places in town, especially once we move to East Tawas full time in June.  I will notice my clothes fitting better, my body moving better and my energy returning. I want to be able to ride my bike the 4.5 miles each way to the lighthouse and then do the nature trail.  I want to get better at paddleboarding, be able to get in and out of a kayak all by myself again.  I want to be able to hike the Highbanks Trail along the Ausable by early fall.  I want to fit back into my cute fall sweaters and boots!

I am going to take a picture every day on this walk.  A rain puddle, a flower in bloom, a dog that comes to day hello, something that catches my eye in a storefront.  Whatever interests me that day.  And every day I will put in my online album along with the temp and distance of my walk.  I think it will be fun to look back over it throughout the year.  And at the end of the year I will have some data to play around with.  I haven’t figured it out exactly quite yet.

So as with any journey, it starts with a single step.  And I took it this morning. I have the picture to prove it.