Why I Started To Walk Everyday – And What Happened When I Stopped

You’ve been sitting at your desk for long hours, eyes glued to the screen. Finally, the need to pee forces you up from your seat and that’s when it hits you: the stiff back, the tin man legs, and the general feeling that you are morphing into a piece of petrified wood. “I must go to pilates/yoga/the gym,” you say to yourself…but do you?

I know I didn’t. Neither did I get up and stretch every hour, even when my Fitbit reminded me to. I just had too much to do. Result? Aching joints, painful knees, persistent backache, and excruciatingly painful sciatica that had me crawling on the floor in agony. That was me at 59 years old. And I was worried. If my body is starting to fall apart now, what’s it going to be like when I’m 69, 79, 89?

Ironically it was my desire for adventure, rather than a sensible plan of exercise, that had me stumble upon what was to be the solution to my creaking body. Have you ever had the feeling that life is slipping you by? That there are a million and one things you want to try and maybe life isn’t infinite after all? That was the feeling I had on my 59th birthday and I decided that this was to be the year of Adventure And Transformation.

So before I had time to talk myself out of it, I Googled ‘5-day hike in Morocco’, found a trip, and put down a deposit. Boom! 

There was plenty of adventure on my Morocco trip. What I hadn’t anticipated was the incredible physical transformation I experienced. When I returned home after walking every day for 5 days I realised I had no backache, no sciatica, and no aching joints. My body felt 20 years younger: strong, fit and flexible. And more, I had this strange new confidence, a feeling that I could do anything, a deep, physical, and emotional rightness. “This is how I always want to feel,” I thought. And if it takes walking every day, well then that’s what I’m going to do. My life is just too important not to prioritise my health and happiness.

So started my daily walking which became an adventure in itself. Whatever the weather I was out there, sloshing through rainstorms, getting up to watch the sun rise or just ambling around my local park. For a whole year, I got out every day. I began to experience the seasons in a whole new way with winter shooting up the list to become my favorite time of year: the calm gray tones, the long morning shadows, the frost-encrusted grasses–so much more interesting than the flat, bright light of summer!    The more I walked the better I felt. Not just physically but emotionally too. Peaceful, joyful, happy, and uber-fit: that’s what walking every day brought me.

So no problem–just start up the daily walking again, right? Except that it’s so hard! I’ve lost the habit. I’m looking at my schedule and thinking, “No time to walk today!”, even though I KNOW from experience that all it takes is a daily walk to get me back to where I was: revitalised and full of energy.

Thinking back to what got me into my daily walking habit over a year ago, it was those 5 intense days of walking in Morocco. That walking blitz showed me the powerful effect of putting one foot in front of the other. So I reckon it’s time for another walking challenge–this time a 7 Day New Year Walking Challenge. 7 days when walking gets the top priority and I give my body the chance to heal and regenerate through walking in nature.

Want to join me?? If you’re like me and you don’t want to accept a creaky, cranky body and mind anymore, then the challenge starts on January 1st-and all you have to do is walk! Join Here

If you’re sceptical about the impact of a daily walk on your health and longevity, let me give you some research to help you put things in perspective. Let me take you back to 2020, the year that Covid 19 burst into our lives. Wherever you were in the world during that time, you would have lived through the daily death toll that just kept on rising. With no vaccine in sight until January 2021, there was a mass worldwide fear of this terrifying and uncontrollable disease. So it might surprise you to know that whilst the spotlight was on COVID-19, far more people were dying from cardiac-related illnesses. 

In Europe in 2020, illnesses related to high blood pressure, heart disease, and diseases of the veins and arteries accounted for 33% of all deaths, with the most common causes of death being ischaemic heart disease (such as heart attack) and cerebrovascular diseases (such as stroke). The second most common cause of death was cancer (23%) with deaths from Covid-19 coming in 3rd with 8% of the total number of deaths. (Causes of Death Statistics)A similar pattern is seen in the US. Of deaths recorded in 2020,  25% were as a result of heart disease or stroke, 17.8% from cancer, and 10.4% from Covid. (CDC.gov)

And yet a far bigger threat to our health are diseases of the cardiovascular system. So, do we walk around worrying about our heart health? Usually not until it smacks us in the face–and by then it’s too late. And yet according to the World Health Organisation, most cardiovascular diseases are preventable.(WHO website)

A massive 2023 worldwide study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology analysed 226,889 people from 17 different studies around the world and found that walking at least 3867 steps a day started to reduce the risk of dying from any cause, and 2337 steps a day reduced the risk of dying from diseases of the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease).

So walking a mere 2337 steps a day–roughly a 22-minute walk–will improve your heart health and longevity. The same study showed that the risk of dying from any cause or from cardiovascular disease decreases significantly with every 500 to 1000 extra steps you walk. The researchers found that even if people walked as many as 20,000 steps a day, the health benefits continued to increase. They have not found an upper limit yet. (escardio.org)

Do you want to feel healthier and live longer? Then walking is the key. So how do you change your daily routine to include a daily walk? As someone who walks every day, I can tell you that although walking is not hard, changing my habits was the problem. I had a new excuse not to walk every day – it’s raining, it’s boring, it’s stupid, it doesn’t work, I want to do something else…and on and on. As humans we resist making changes to our daily habits, even when we know these changes will feel really good! 

That’s why I’ve created my 7 Day New Year Walking Challenge. 7 days to set in motion a new habit that could add healthy, happy years to your life AND is a lot cheaper than a gym membership! Start this new habit with me. Download your 7 Day Walk Challenge here and let’s make 2024 the year of health and vitality.

Plus My Walks Are Fun!

I’m not just going to tell you to go on a 1-hour walk on a Monday, a 45-minute walk on a Tuesday and another 1-hour walk on Wednesday. That is dull! Who wants that?

With this 7 Day New Year Walking Challenge, you’ll enjoy 

• The Stress Buster Walk
• The Lightbulb Walk
• The Wonder Walk
• The Explorer
• The Connector
• The Gratitude Walk

These are walks I have developed over 1 year of walking every day and they are designed to help you connect mindfully to all the benefits that you are getting from your walk.

Free Walking Journal

There’s also a downloadable waking journal so that you can make notes on how you feel before and after each walk.

Which leads me to the Bonus Day 8 on this challenge! That’s when you get to review your journal, get clear on the benefits that you’ve gained from the walking challenge, and set a plan for creating your happy and healthy 2024.