Walking 10,000 steps a day for a year and living to tell the tale

Happy New Year folks!

2024 was a whirlwind of a year, in good ways and bad, but at least I won’t call it uneventful.

I lost my first independent rental home that I had decorated as if it were my own, and my job, not in the same order.

I won two months of absolute bliss at home.

Best friends and cousins got married, visas were granted in the nick of time, and grand cruises happened to celebrate special occasions of the best people.

I discovered community groups of chess, board games and pub quizzes in the city and somehow managed to enrol myself in university again.

And amidst it all, four months in, while on vacation, I realised my step count (tracked on my phone’s Health app) had effortlessly doubled from around 5,000 a day to 13,000 for 10 days. I gave myself a spontaneous challenge – that I’d maintain that consistency for the rest of the year and try to hit the golden 10,000 – and today, on the day of making new resolutions, I’m happy to say I pushed through.

I ended the year on a neat average of (drumroll) 10,012 daily steps.

I started walking, the most underrated exercise I’ve been told, when I needed it most. It gave structure to my suddenly empty days and helped take my mind off things.

I would explore different parks on different days before deciding on a favourite route and park. I filled the hours catching up with friends and family at leisure on the phone, accidentally discovering new museums, fairs and cafes and witnessing the sweetest acts of kindness.

There’s something to be said about parks and recreation, and I’m not talking about the TV show here, but the various green havens after which it has been aptly named. I’m an earth sign and all for earthy, natural, muddy expanses of grass, benches and trees.

It’s balm to the sole.

Health benefits aside, and there are many, here are 5 ways you get to enrich your life:

You learn to be present – When bathing in nature and hearing birds chirruping, you’ll unlikely want to distract yourself with anything else. It’s a good place to start for people with their heads in the clouds.

Your mental health soars – Ok, this can also qualify as a health benefit, but walking genuinely boosts your sense of bonhomie towards people and life.

You get to skip the gym – I don’t know about you, but my primary reason for taking up walking so enthusiastically was so that I could ditch the dreaded gym and still be counted as sort of active.

You get precious talk time – When not one with nature, or at least still on the way to an idyllic park, you have plenty of time to ring that friend you want to annoy or have a silly laugh with and not get waylaid by a hundred other things.

You reap the rewards of easy work – A little willpower is all it costs to build long-lasting endurance and muscle power. It helps clear your mind and start the day afresh with some sunshine in your pocket.

All you need is a good pair of shoes (I have the best taste in them, ngl) and five seconds of inertia-overcoming energy – then it’s a walk in the park!