A few months ago, In September of 2016, I wrote an article (see it here) titled: The Faster You Walk, The Longer You Live. It’s true. Walking is a terrific longevity booster for Seniors because it gets the juices “jangling”, it strengthens your legs, improves your heart health, and helps you breathe better.
But sometimes walking too fast can backfire on you. Sometimes you need to slow down on your walks and look around. It can be like meditation, particularly when walking in the park like atmosphere of walking trails that are popping up everywhere in the cities and the suburbs (leave your phone in your pocket please). You may walk faster to live longer but, sometimes you need to walk slower to enjoy living.
My wife brought me into that reality with a comment she made last week. She said that I always walk ahead of her leaving her trailing behind me. That’s not exactly true of course. When we walk, she often takes up a position two to three steps behind me no matter whether we are walking for exercise, or are walking from the car in a parking lot to the store. If I slow down, she slows down. If I speed up, she speeds up. It’s just the way it is.
But she commented about me walking ahead of her all the time, and it made me realize a couple of things.
- I always walk fast
- I don’t slow down to “smell the roses” very often.
- I am quite inconsiderate sometimes when I am walking normally with my wife and not just walking for the exercise.
The truth is that studies really have shown evidence that how fast you normally walk is an indication of your projected longevity. But that doesn’t mean I have to walk fast during normal walks from the car to a store when I am walking with my wife. Sometimes it can be a sign of being inconsiderate rather than living longer.
So for always leaving her trailing behind me, I sincerely apologize. I will be more considerate in the future. But when we are walking on the trails for exercise, either “lead, follow or get out of the way.” But I’d much rather have you walk beside me. By the way, that quote has been attributed to Thomas Paine, the Patriot from Revolutionary War times, as well as to General Patton, the World War II Patriot. I think I recall hearing Ted Turner of Cable movie and CNN fame say it too.
I promise to slow down from now on — in the parking lots at least.
Thank you for reading.