Stairs

Last year, during what seemed to be a promising bout of weight loss, I got in the habit of taking a break every two hours or so during my work day to hit the stairwell and do a quick climb: not enough to get sweaty, but enough to wake me up, elevate my heart rate and metabolism, burn a few calories and keep myself focused on incremental positive effort.

I’ve been meaning to get back into the habit. I just took the first step by going out to the stairwell and jogging up five floors, which in my building means ten flights of ten steps. By the time I reached the top my heart was pounding and I was nearly winded. But I’m glad I made a start.

I’m feeling the need for positive encouragement today; it’s important that I favor the carrot over the stick. So rather than focus on how much more difficult those 100 stairs were than I would have liked, I’m smiling in anticipation of how much easier they’ll get in the coming months.