Exercise routines

When I was teaching, I got a lot more exercise. I used to walk to work nearly everyday, as well as to and from my kids’ school. Now I work from home and wave goodbye to my children from my front door. I sit at my desk typing for hours, occasionally going downstairs to make tea or coffee. According to my phone, my daily step count dropped to an average of 3000 from 10 000.

After a few months of this new sedentary lifestyle, and a whole lot of complaining about my aches and pains from hunching over my laptop everyday, I realized I had to make some changes.

I started with my desk: I ordered a stand for my laptop and an external keyboard so my posture would be a little less terrible.

Next, I rejoined the local Y, which is only two blocks from my house. I learned how to use the elliptical machine and took advantage of the free training session to set up a strength-training routine. At first, I resented losing an hour from my day to go to the gym, but sweat-induced endorphins have helped to turn me around.

A few weeks ago, I attended a QWF workshop about the reciprocal relationship between walking and writing; you can read Alice Zorn’s description of the workshop on her blog. This was a good reminder that writing doesn’t just happen at the desk; walking allows you to process thoughts and ideas in new and wonderful ways.

Then, a few days ago, I made the biggest lifestyle change so far: we adopted a puppy! Samson (pictured above) is a 9-week-old black labrador retriever. My husband has been wanting a dog for years, but I’d been resistant. Now, I’m embracing the opportunity to spend more time outside and counteract my desk-bound writer lifestyle.