Walking motivator Dec. 17 2024

This morning, two friens and I were talking about improving our daily walking habit. I had read an article from Journal of American Medical Association about how 5000 steps a day can improve symptoms of depression. I know this and I know it improves EVERYTHING, flexibility, cardiovascular health, and generally I walk my dog each day to the railroad tracks and back, but this autumn I had a couple of falls and got sick a couple of times and a neighbor walked the dog for me. I said I would walk on my own anyhow, but I didn't. I am a sedentary person by nature and would rather sit curled up on the recliner sofa and read or watch movies or paint or draw or do anything you can do on a recliner! So I really did need motivation.

Some years ago I saw two interesting artists' projects - one was a walker who took a photo at the same spot every morning for months at exactly the same time, the other was an artist who collected everyone's sunset photos and made a giant collage of them!

Our project is very simple, each walk we will take one photo of something we like it can be a plant, a leaf, a lawn decoration, anything we like. It doesn't have to be spectacular but it has to be one of us taking the photo, not an old photo or a photo someone else took. I am looking forward to taking my photo and also seeing what my two friends take on their walk. It really has made me more enthusiastic about walking my dog Uma today. She is patiently waiting as always!

Update: I did my first group text from the dog walk and I took 7 photographs of Santas on the lawns around town! It was so much fun!

Happy Trails! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com