I learned to walk today…

I (Audy) learned how to walk this week.

I can explain. Type A’ers out there, you’ll totally get this.

My nutrition coach wants me to get lots of steps every day. So I walk. But if I’m walking I might as well be power walking, right? And for me, after a couple of blocks I just go mentally to “well if I’m power walking I might as well run”. Well I don’t like running. So I don’t take the walk. And I struggle to get my steps.

The past two weeks I’ve been dealing with a minor but painful injury that has affected my training. I have wanted to stay active so I’ve been focusing on other things, like walking, that I can do. Not being able to fully swing my arm I went pretty slowly and took more of a “stroll”. I did my normal route, got home and realized…I TOOK THE SAME NUMBER OF STEPS AS WHEN I WALK FAST.

Don’t ask me why it took me 40+ years to figure this out but I’m not being dramatic when I say, very frankly, I believe that stroll changed my life.

Since realizing I get the same number of steps regardless of how fast I go, the pressure I have put on myself has dropped dramatically…and my steps have TRIPLED. Going out for a brief “to the corner and back” between meetings or using a spare 5 minutes to get some fresh air has

1️⃣improved my mood
2️⃣helped with being alert throughout the day
AND HAS:
3️⃣accelerated my weight loss!

Im a driven Type A human, and I don’t want to change that. But when it comes to walking, I think I’m going to see how being a “Type B+” feels for awhile.

-AB