"Will you get your steps in today?" "Did you get a badge?" "What was your average HR during your walk?" If you don't understand these questions, you probably don't have a smartwatch or fitness tracker.  To call our business Alive 'n Well means that literally we are "walking the walk."  Except for the occasional all-day rain, daily we get outside and get our exercise- either walking, running or biking:  usually around 3 miles.  Saturdays we try to go for more than 6.  I promise that I’m not saying this to impress you but to encourage you.  Back to steps…

Did you know that the now sacred bar of "getting in your 10,000 steps" has its origins in a Japenese company that invented a device in 1965 called Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000 steps meter" (there are crazy stories of competition among fitness fakes who have put their Apple watchers or Fitbits on fast dogs or fan blades to inflate their numbers). But whether you're doing your 10K steps for bragging rights or bolstering your immune system, what I like about walking is that it gets us outside into unconditioned air:  time to admire lawns and gardens; wave to neighbors and other walkers; look for hawks; listen for the great-horned owl; smell gardenias and jasmine; identify planets and stars.   It's so good to stretch our legs after time at our desks; it is said that too much sitting is the new smoking.

Do you remember the walkman (I still have one) that played a cassette tape (I do not have any😜)?  How about the fact that the name of the product was telling us to get moving!  Love it. So I say to you:  walkwoman, walkman!  If you can and are able, get outside and move your legs.  It's not only good for your body but also refreshing for your mind.  Nietzsche once said, “It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth.” Thoreau, another avid walker, claimed, “The moment my legs begin to move my thoughts begin to flow.” So, if you don't like the outdoors (heat, skeeters, the virus, sidewalk cracks and other obstacles), walk indoors:  plug in the treadmill; go up and down the stairs or just one step; walk around the couch or kitchen.  If you don’t feel alive and well, get up and Walkman!