get off your butt

I spend much of my time sitting. Commuting for hours to and from work every day. Working behind my desk at the office. Sitting at the dinner table with Dallas at my feet. All this butt-flattening activity makes me all the more grateful for the active moments and days. Last Wednesday I choreographed Hard Knock Life with thirty 6-10 yr-olds for 2 solid hours. It was so.much.fun. We took a walk with friends yesterday afternoon, 4 pups running ahead and falling behind, and even though it got dark almost as soon as we began our trek into the woods, I was thankful for the jaunt. Fresh air! Moving legs! Holding Jake's hand while we laugh at the comedy of animals! What a relief. Then we got Thai takeout and sat some more, but the walk was the highlight of my day. Oh yes, a simple walk.

Its a funny time of life that I'm in. I never foresaw commuting undermining an active lifestyle, but it is certainly trying too. If there wasn't so much traffic- the nails-on-the-chalkboard of my daily life- I'd use cruise control and do leg exercises while coasting along the highway. Despite this, I must admit that I love the silence. The commute is long and I often battle falling asleep when its dark out so early in the morning and I've broken down a few times in the past year which is the opposite of fun, but the long stretch of silence and thinking time to myself every day is something I know I would miss. BUT, without a commute I would find that silent time in longer walks in the woods, so really, no convincing myself of the value of commuting comes without a quick assertion of its ultimate evils.

Yes, I just said commuting is evil. Extreme emotions. I'm prone to them these days.

And the moral of this story is...go for a walk.