Get Out

Part of my path along the river this year has included copious amounts of walking.  Like a lot.  As in miles and miles.  The doctor told me last April that I needed to walk a half hour each day.  That's how you manage diabetes--with diet and exercise.  I think I cried.  Taking care of myself has been so low on my list of things to do for so long I couldn't imagine fitting in a half hour per day walk.  The diet I wasn't so afraid of since I'd had a good experience with Weight Watchers in the past.  Not that it stuck. Hence the diabetes.

But all of a sudden I was thrust in the position of really having no choice but to start paying attention to myself.  The former aerobic-instructor-turned-obese-sedentary-perennial-community-volunteer/single mother needed to get moving.  So I went for the first walk.  I did about a mile.  It took about an hour.  By the time I got home I was crying again.  How in the world would I ever keep this up, let alone fit it into my life daily?

It turns out, it's not such a hard thing to keep a commitment to yourself once you make it.  There was immediate success with the change in diet and adding in the exercise.  Pounds started rolling off and I took off.  Nothing like success for motivation.  Spring turned into summer and a mile a day turned into up to 12 miles a day.  I made 6 miles my minimum each day while the weather held but some days I managed a morning walk and an evening walk too.  That's when the miles really added up.  The walks became something I looked forward to, craved even.  I couldn't wait to leave the office to get my sneakers on.  

As I walked I took pictures.  I've lived in this town 28 years and never noticed all the beauty around me  . . . until I got out of my car.  Spending a couple of hours a day briskly walking around town introduced me to historic sites, tiny pockets of parkland, up close views of our lakes and I started my reconciliation with the river that had invaded my house.  After miles of walking alongside her, we were fully reconciled by the 1-year anniversary of Hurricane Irene in August.  Mid walk, I usually posted my favorite view of the day on facebook--my mini-blogs of appreciation for the walks, the sights and the music that kept me going.

Which brings me to the music.  When I bought my iPhone, I recall saying to the sales clerk that I didn't have to know how to use the iTunes app because I'd never download music to my phone.  I was strictly a CD girl.  Liner notes and all.  But around the same time I was told to get out and get moving, I discovered the music of Gavin DeGraw (story for another time).  I'd already bought the CD's, all of them.  Then I bought them again--a second set for the car.  I craved this music more than anything I'd ever heard.  I can't recall any artist ever that got my attention so completely.  And so I downloaded music to my phone--lots of music.  At first, it was just Gavin.  Then it was anyone he recommended and the folks he was touring with last summer.  Then it was whoever my new friends on Twitter (yet another story for another time) were listening to and whomever those people toured with or recommended.

The music, the sunrises and sunsets, the trails in the woods and parks, the lakes and river--it all powerfully combined to get me out and to keep me going.  So I don't mind the weather.  I walk in the rain or snow.  I'll go out if it's below freezing (today) or above steaming.  I've managed to take off 94 pounds since April.  I'm off blood pressure pills and my A1C is normal.  There're a few more to go but even when I'm at my goal I know I'll still be getting out.  It's as much for my head now as it was for my health.

Here's today's view (Indian Lake from the deep beach docks).  A gorgeous sunset on the ice-covered lake.  How can I not be inspired to keep this up?  It's a beautiful world out there.  But you've got to get out ...