but there it is.
I was sitting in a training in late December and the speaker was talking about children with severe behaviors. She talked about how important exercise is to regulating mood.
And in that moment, I had an epiphany. I needed to exercise.
Not for health. Not to lose weight. To make myself happy.
Since January 1, I've been walking. To relieve stress. To find my place. To get away from my world for a few minutes. Bury myself in a podcast or a TV show or music and forget that there is laundry to be washed, children to be taught, bills to be paid.
I started out badly out of shape. I can measure it by how I'm breathing and the pace I'm walking on the treadmill. When I started, getting up to a 3.5 mph pace winded me. I couldn't sustain it for more than 5 minutes. I spent most of my time walking at 3 or 3.2 mph.
Sunday, I walked at 3.7 mph for 8 minutes and 3.5 mph for twenty. I was sweating, but I could still talk. I don't know that I can go much faster without running -- and I will NOT be running -- but I can work myself towards going faster longer.
I'm not dieting. It makes me really, really cranky and sort of defeats the purpose of walking to find my happy spot. I have lost some weight though, which I'm certainly not sad about doing. Mostly, I'm a happier person than I was a month ago. Hopefully I'll be back next month to post a new update. I need this.
