This week we all faced “Blue Monday” – the most depressing day of the year they say. It’s the time where we feel somewhat lost with the holiday season behind us and already forgot about our new year’s resolutions. Though we shouldn’t feel down these days, but rather motivated to make it another great year with great achievements.
Of course, workout-related new year’s resolutions are not a new idea and most popular each year. One of the biggest tools to succesfully get a significant health improvement, also happens to be one of the simplest ones: walking each and every day. We all know that walking can improve your mental, physical and emotional health. And they say to walk 10,000 steps a day is one of the keys of fitness. But how do you make walking an ingrained habit?
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
So let’s take the first one together! How to walk 10.000 steps a day. Seems hard to do right? Well, it’s easier than you might think! Here are my tips and tricks to get going and keep up the good work:
- Think positive: first of all don’t see this challenge as an obligation. See it as something fun to do and all the benefits you will get from it! Walking improves your overall health. For example it will boost the immune system, bones and muscles become stronger, it’s destressing, and the body will be more toned. All very good reasons if you ask me!
- Stop making excuses: ‘it’s too cold’, ‘it’s rainy’, ‘I’m too busy’ are all very unfounded reasons get outside for a good walk. Just dress warm and grab an umbrella. Many times you can actually incorporate walking with necessities as well (see next bullet point). So stop hesitating and making excuses – just grab your walking shoes and simply get started! Eventually you can be proud that you decided to get into this walking Wednesday challenge.
- Vary with it: there are many ways to incorporate walking in your daily activities. Take the dog for a longer walk than usual (he/she will appreciate it!) and do the groceries by foot (don’t buy too much though haha). Another effective way is parking the car a little further from work and walk the last minutes. Or call a friend and make a nice evening walk through the park together.
- Don’t give up: the first few times may seem difficult and you could find it hard to keep up with all this walking. Thinking in advance of the things you can do to reach the goal also helps making it seem more doable. After a little while it gets a habit and you can’t even remember the times without! You’ll see it becomes easier each time and the goal may even be set higher than those 10.000 steps eventually 😉
With love,
Carolina.
