Sometime last year, I bought myself a Fitbit. My motivation was mostly to keep myself honest about how much movement I was engaging in each day, especially since most of my work has me sitting at my desk and not moving my feet except to readjust them on my foot cushion. I downloaded the Fitbit app to my iPhone and fiddled around with it a little, but I did not change the default suggestion to try and meet the goal of 10,000 steps each day.

Guess what I found out? It’s kinda hard to get 10,000 steps every single day. Unless you’re a waitress or dog walker or a construction worker or elementary school teacher. But for me, meeting this goal is a decision I need to make very consciously. Even one turn around my beloved pond racks up only about 1000 steps. Maybe I need to take smaller strides?

Walking is kind of non-negotiable, though, isn’t it? It’s something that nearly everyone can do, the low-tide mark of basic movement and fitness. My denturist husband sees a number of older patients and whenever he meets someone who is still strong and spry after all their years, he casually interviews them: How do you stay so healthy? What’s your secret? And inevitably they report back to him that they walk. They are literally a ambling advertisement for good health.

So what’s the magic of 10,000? That number roughly equals 4 miles and the daily equivalent of meeting that can help you lose weight or at least maintain the status quo (as long as you’re not walking to the Ice Cream and Beer Store). And it can help regulate your blood pressure and blood sugar. All really good things.

So, every day I need to walk at least 10,000 steps and a couple times of week I also need to add in some strength training – because, hello? we lose muscle mass every second over 50. But 10,000 steps at one shot – for me – takes somewhere around 60 to 90 minutes. I don’t always have that kind of time.

Or do I? The alternative is…what, exactly? To spend more time watching television or scrolling through Instagram or reading – all of which are tempting in their own insipid way. After all, a body at rest tends to stay that way – it’s a Newtonian Law. If I don’t make the conscious decision every day to move then I’m making the opposite to stay on my butt. It’s not like I have to chase little people like I did when I was a young mama – and when it was probably harder to try limit myself to only 10,000 steps a day.

Of course, much of my sitting time is Working Time. But taking a time out for a walk – even around the house for a couple minutes as my Fitbit reminds me at 10 minutes to every hour – can be so rejuvenating. Just like when I was a young mama and Rick had to get me Out of the House and Away from the Kids in order to refocus, a step outside the house can be transforming. In other words, a hour a day is a small investment in my future.

See ya later. I gotta go for a walk.