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Hi from on the move!
I took an international flight the other day. It felt like I hadn’t been at the airport in ages. I even asked whether I had to take the laptop out of my carry-on at the security check!
My previous flight, the return from Gran Canaria to Zagreb, was in January. Just four and a half months later, even packing a traveling bag seemed to be a challenging task. How in the world did I manage to fit things in before?
I attributed my quick fallout from a habit to being a human, a highly adaptable creature. Without challenges, we lazily stay in place and see little progress.
For instance, the last few weeks, I spent time with my mom. Besides a couple of half-day mountain hikes I did, and an occasional walk in the neighborhood, it felt like a lazy all-inclusive stay. My muscle work was reduced to lifting a spoon filled with mom’s always-available homemade soup. There’s no proper lunch in the Balkans without eating something with a spoon.
Tomorrow, June 3rd, is simultaneously Global Running Day and International Bicycle Day, both “holidays” stimulating us to get our ass up from the couch, and move. June is the Great Outdoors Month, after all.
How much do you move yourself? Travelers, nominally used to being on the go, are not active people by default. Just like in a sedentary at-home lifestyle, sipping cocktails by the pool and waiting for hotel staff to cook our lunch can quickly switch off our own mechanisms of taking care of ourselves. Once we remove cars, buses, trains, planes, and rockets moving us around, how much time do we truly invest in physical activity in our daily lives?
Forming new habits is easier with pairing, such as moving to a new place as a clean start. So I used the opportunity of an international trip to remind my muscles what they were meant for in the first place. Somehow, I found the energy to exercise at home the last couple of days, I go for regular walks, and I even swam in a river over the weekend. My friend, whom I’m visiting at the moment, has a rowing machine, so I plan to jump on that as soon as I upgrade my stamina a bit.
Bad weather ahead means I’ll be spending more time indoors anyway. But that doesn’t mean that my sports activity should be reduced to playing chess on the Duolingo not-only-language app, my newly discovered obsession. Even if I have a hard time focusing on constructive online work, I do end up spending too much time in front of the screen.
Well, let me know if you have strategies for staying active and fit on the move. I’d love to hear them. And hopefully steal one or two.
Have a sporty week,
Ivan Kralj
Pipeaway.com
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