THANKSGIVING - Walk With
Thanks
by Joyce Moseley Pierce
During this season of gratitude and thanksgiving, I
wanted to write about something we do every day with very little
thought. Something we’ve been doing since we were very small. Most of
us did it before we even talked. I’m talking about walking.
The way I see it, there are basically four reasons we walk
1. Travel – To get from one place to
another. We don’t even think about getting up each morning and walking from
our bed to the bathroom, but I watched my elderly grandmother as an invalid
for many years and gained an appreciation for my ability to get up and go
wherever I wanted without help from anyone else.
2. Pleasure – I remember taking
walks with my grandfather and my dad as a child, and that tradition has
continued with my own grandkids. When the grandkids come to visit,
they love to walk down to the lake in our neighborhood to feed the ducks.
Part of the enjoyment, I believe, is just being away from everyone else. We
walk, we talk, and we just enjoy one another’s company. When I was in
Las Vegas for the birth of a new granddaughter, I walked the other two kids
to school one day. My granddaughter, Olivia, who was 5 at the time, stopped
other kids along the way to say, “My grandma is walking me to school.” She
was so proud, and I am so thankful to have the health to be able to walk
with her.
3. Exercise – Walking is one of
the best ways to exercise. You can walk at the pace you need to reach the
desired heart rate. All you need is a pair of good walking shoes. No clubs
to join. No classes to attend. You can walk during the day or at night.
Inside or out. In the mall or on a treadmill. If you need more of a
challenge, you can carry a backpack with additional weight, or you can swing
your arms to raise your heartrate. You will find that your legs have
to move as fast as your arms. Even if you’re uncoordinated, it is
impossible for your legs not to follow your arms. Try it.
4. Peace of mind – You’ve heard of
the “fight or flight” response? When I am upset or when I have
things to work out in my mind, I go for a walk. I may start out stomping as
I try to release anger, but by the time I get back home, I have worked
through it and my mind has been cleared so that I can think rationally.
Instead of sitting in a chair stewing about a problem, or getting into a
fight with someone, walking can be great therapy, and you may be able to
find a rational way to resolve the problem.
I suppose walking is one of those things I’m especially grateful for because
when I was a year old my mother realized I wasn’t walking properly. It
looked like one leg was longer than the other, but the actual problem was
that the leg hadn’t joined the hip properly. After tearfully pleading
with other family members who wanted to deny there was anything wrong with
their little girl, she made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon and I
was put in a body cast that went from under my arms to my knees. I spent the
next year in that cast. I probably weighed as much as my mother did with
that plaster cast. As an adult, my aunts and uncles told me about how
horrified they had been when they saw "the horrible cast" and feared it
would keep me from doing things other one year-olds did. They told of their
joy when they saw that I not only learned to walk, but run and climb
in spite of the challenges I had.
Probably the most valuable lesson from that experience was that I learned
that with encouragement, I could not only walk, but I was given the
confidence to believe that I could do anything.
On Thanksgiving when you stuff yourself with turkey, instead of curling up
on the couch and taking a nap, think about taking a walk instead. It will
help revive you and give you the time you need to think about the things
you’re grateful for.
Copyright 2002 Joyce Moseley Pierce
mailto:piercejam@sbcglobal.net
Joyce is a freelance writer and owner of Emerson Publications. She is
the creator of "All They'll Need to Know," a workbook to help families
record personal and financial information.
http://www.emersonpublications.com/pages/843554/index.htm
She is also the editor of The Family First Newsletter, an ezine for
families with young children. To subscribe:
http://www.emersonpublications.com/pages/848640/index.htm
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