Today is an anniversary for me. One year out.
This time last year, I was recovering from an extended illness that descended on my return from New Zealand and through the holidays. By mid-January I was feeling better but was having a hard time getting myself out and about – difficulties getting back into a routine of walking. It was a difficult winter (for us), with a lot of snow and I’d find myself looking out the window at gray gloom and cold, finding excuses for staying inside.
Then I read a story that changed everything. It goes like this.
A young comic trying to get himself established on the stand-up circuit had the occasion to meet one of his idol comedians, Jerry Seinfeld, and asked him a question about his working habits.
“How do you write better jokes?”
Seinfeld responded, “In order to write better jokes you have to write more jokes. Here’s what I do. I write every day. And at the end of each daily writing session, I mark off that day on a calendar with a thick ‘X’. Now here’s the secret. Don’t break the chain. You must fill in the X every day. Never break the chain.”
That’s it. The secret to success. The secret to building a new habit. Having a conversation with yourself about why you don’t feel like doing it this day is not an option. You must not break the chain. No matter what.
For some reason, this was exactly the right time for me to hear this and I started my own “Don’t Break the Chain”. I would go outside and walk every single day, no matter what. And that is what I’ve done every day for the past year. It’s worked a charm. No longer is there any decision to be made. No matter what the weather is doing, how I feel, what else I’m doing, it doesn’t matter. Every day I go out and every day I fill in the calendar. I say, “I have to go out, I have no choice” and there is no decision to be made. Just do it.
After a year of walking every day, I am finding enormous benefits. Every day I’m out in nature, which is exactly where I want to be, walking the hood, the beach, the forest, the rural roads and trails, the rivers, waterfalls, estuaries, looking at the birds, the animals, the changing seasons, the tides. When I’m out there like that I’m loving every minute of what I’m seeing. As soon as I step outside, no matter what the weather, it’s all good.
I’m stronger. Where once I would have been pausing for breath on certain hills or steep banks, I now climb easily, barely noticing. I walk further and longer and love the feeling of strong legs moving. My 8-year old movement practice, Pilates, has taken a great leap forward, and I see huge increases in flexibility and strength. I stand tall. I’ve lost weight and am no longer so…er…how should I put this…uh…lumpy!
And, with great shoes and boots, sweaters and jackets, I have found out something profound. There’s no such thing as “bad” weather.
Thanks Jerry.
During the months of March and April the beaches are closed to dogs to make sure the resting birds are undisturbed, (not that that stops some people) and there is even a celebration of this annual spectacle in the Brant Festival named after one of the migrants, the Brant goose. This year I decided to go check out some of the tours on offer during this loose collection of outdoor activities.
Another Saturday I visited a local market farmer whose place I walk by often on my walks, not far from where I live. The farmer is a young woman who has been on the property for only a year and a half. She raises poultry, sheep, goats, horses, ducks and pigs as well as 3 children and appears to be having a great time, enthusing about the different heirloom breeds and so on. I can’t eat factory farm chicken and pork anymore – once an image imprints, it can’t really be erased – but I live in a place where I can get meat from happy animals at the local farmers’ market. Until this tour I hadn’t visited any of these farms.
