A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With A Single Step

   

 Chinese philosopher Laozi said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Another translation of the same quote is "Even the longest journey must begin where you stand." 

    Last week Aunty Belle wrote a piece about her life-altering pilgrimage to Santiago. I want to to that. Or something like it! Maybe walk across the moors and seacoast of England, or trek St. Olev's Way in hubby's ancestral home of Norway. Here's Aunty's inspiring post: http://abporkrinds.blogspot.com/2011/07/santiago-ya-changed-mah-life.html

     But first, to achieve such a goal, there are a couple of obstacles to clear away. The first is time. Unless we come into money (and I'm definitely open to this idea), hubby's job would prevent him from taking a month off for the journey. Now as I write this, I'm not so sure this is a true obstacle. We haven't asked for the time off. Sometimes you just have to ask! Once I applied for a job as Materials Manager and Purchaser for a company. They hired me and offered to pay me the middle of the salary range. I countered by asking for higher than the salary range. They were shocked...but they figured anyone with that kind of chutzpah would probably negotiate very aggressively for the company. They agreed to my terms. When they called to say they'd agreed to my terms, I could scarcely conceal my surprise...but I learned something important...ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT, maybe even a little more!  

     The other obstacle is that of conditioning...my lack of it.  If I'm going to walk all day, every day for almost a month; I need to get into shape. I figure I should lose about 35 pounds and work on muscle tone + stamina before beginning this undertaking. And yes Laotze, that journey can begin right where I stand.

     Here's my plan... I'll buy a pedometer and start walking; every day if possible...even if it's not that far. Every Sunday I will report to this blog how many miles I walked the previous week. I'll tell you if I've lost weight, or heaven forbid-gained weight, and let you know what is working-and what isn't.
    
     Here's the method to my madness... I figure if I link my walking and conditioning efforts to my blog I'll be more likely to keep my focus. After all, I've been blogging for over 2 years pretty faithfully because I love to write. So if I commit to writing about walking...I'm more likely to follow through.

NOTE: Here's what I'm NOT going to do. I'm not going to beat myself up for not walking far or fast enough. It is about the journey, and I plan to enjoy it. Nor will I quit because the scales aren't reflecting my effort like I want them to. And since this is my journey, I won't flaunt my success in the face of those who are on a different path.

Here goes! Just put one foot in front of the next...

My Walking Journal for the Week of July 23

July 29th.    I started walking. Walked about 1 mile. (I've yet to buy the pedometer.)

July 30th.   Today I walked 1 mile on the beach, came home, and walked another mile and a half. However, my diet was abominable today. Ate coffee cake for breakfast, peanut butter sandwich, chips, apple and M&Ms for lunch. Threw a pizza in the oven for dinner, but my oven caught fire because I spilled turkey grease all over it last week while cooking a turkey. Put out the fire and threw the pizza away. Ate 2 slices of raisin bread, a slice of cheese, 2 glasses of lemonade, and another bag of M&M's for dinner.  I felt so lousy from eating all of that sugar, I walked that 1 1/2 miles afterward, just to shake off the sugar buzz. Tomorrow I plan to buy a pedometer. Probably oughtta clean my oven too.

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