6 - walking a mile in my shoes (literally)
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I started making walking a very serious Thing since December 2025. Any opportunity where I can log at least 2000 steps in, I take it, even if it meant I'd go down to the common area on the 4th floor of my apartment complex and just walk a few laps around the block. It was definitely hard at first - with the state of my knees and the pain on my left heel (with an emerging pain on my right), sometimes it's hard to make it a daily habit.
Maybe it shouldn't be such a daily habit if I want to make this sustainable. After all it's only been three weeks since it just started becoming an actual habit.
This week alone from the 29th of December to this day, I managed to log in a consistent 2k or more per week. I think that's a respectable sort of achievement, if I want to be honest. Genuinely the most I've done in my recent years even, and I think being able to track this sort of progress helps immensely.
Three weeks feels a little too early to concretely say how much has changed (especially considering my leg pains don't go away even after consistent exercise), but I am finding it easier for me to fall asleep, which I think is a good thing. Plus I'm finding that this is a good way to give time to myself for about 30 to 45 minutes. I love my mom, and I love my sister, but to stay in the house with their presence constantly for long periods of time can get overwhelming for me. Walking provides time for myself, and it's a sort of self-regulating/stimming sort of thing, and I like that it can also let me stay in my own world once I put my headphones on.
I think this year, despite some pain, I'd like to make this a sustainable habit that sticks. The physical benefits is a bonus to me, but the mental and emotional benefit can't be overstated for a neurodivergent person like me.