Recently I have established a routine in the evenings to walk for an hour around my apartment complex or on the treadmill, this was the result of Ri-being-too-tired-to-take-me-to-the-gym and I-found-out-I’ve-gained-10-pounds-since-the-wedding. I decided I can’t just take a passive role in determining my own exercise routine, so if I can’t run (because of my RA) or if I don’t get to swim at the gym, then the least I can do is walk.

To back up a little, when we first move in, we purposely decided to not own a scale, because I am too afraid to face the horrid truth of the fluctuation of my own body weight. I first noticed when my jeans started to get snug (to put it mildly) and I kept asking Ri if he thinks I’m getting bigger, to which he would say what any amazing husband would say “honey, no you are not getting fat, but even if you are, you look beautiful no matter your size”. So I was living in the bliss of unawareness until I visited Ling Ling one day and she has a scale in her bathroom, then my self-consciousness came crashing down smothering me in the process. Thus leading to my exercise routine now.

I figured out I can walk 3.5 miles in an hour, and there are plenty of benefits to walking. Did you know, that:

1. walking for 30-60 minutes daily 5 days a week can reduce the health risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, anxiety, and depression.

2. walking increases bone health (yay, just what I need), especially strengthening the hip bone and lowering LDL (the bad kind of cholesterol) and raising HDL (the good kind of cholesterol).

3. studies found walking prevents dementia and Alzheimer’s.

And besides, I think you get a runner’s high with walking, too, so that’s always a bonus.

So I was walking home from my one-hour exercise last night feeling like I was floating on the cloud, I got home and took an amazing hot shower and slipped into bed by my already-sound-asleep-husband, and then I had a moment when I sensed that everything is perfect. I am the luckiest girl alive because I am in want of nothing. You know how they say “you can’t measure happiness by the amount of things you own, the only true measurement of happiness is how content you are”, and I am incredibly content and grateful to my God. Anyway, I guess I just want to capture this feeling. :)