Walking more in general has changed me, especially in the last 3 years. Before I got serious about it, and started using an activity tracker to have that tangible evidence of my step count, I had absolutely no self-awareness of how much I didn’t actually walk around daily. I could always pound the pavement with the best of them when I needed to, for a family hike or while traveling, but on a regular basis I was as sedentary as it gets. Yet I thought I was just average maybe.

Part of that “couch potato” lifestyle cemented itself because I work on a computer most of my day. Sitting. Either at a desk or in my favorite wingback chair in my living room with a laptop propped on my legs and a television on in the background. A lot of people work from home or work in offices and sit at computers, that’s a fact these days. We are collectively sitting more than ever before.

The only way to combat that is to consciously stand, walk, and run more. That’s it. Physical training, workouts, and other intentional exercising is another thing all together and incredibly important as well. But the single act of walking more everyday, setting a target of at least 10,000 steps, can change your health tremendously and reverse trends. Just one step at a time.

Do it in flip flops even, like I do some times on warm summertime evenings while walking the dogs.

-Summer