Quality Time, Movement and Nature

My walk this morning was absolutely beautiful. The temperature was 54°. The sky was blue and clear with no clouds and it was nice and sunny.

I was walking with my little dog, Jake, a miniature schnauzer that we found wandering the street almost two years ago. I usually walk him every day unless the weather is bad, cold or rainy. The past two days we’ve had really bad storms (including a tornado that touched down in the adjacent town just yesterday) so I haven’t been able to walk Jake and we both really enjoyed today’s walk after being confined indoors.

Our normal route takes about 35-40 minutes to complete, depending on just how many roses (or other flowers, plants or "stuff") Jake stops to smell, along with handling his normal doggie business, and is exactly a mile long in distance. After I finish with him, I take him home then go back and complete walk two miles on my own.

As we turned onto the second street on our route I saw a family (or what I presumed to be a "family") walking. There was a woman and a man and a girl that looked to be about 10 years old. As they were walking I noticed the girl had a volleyball and she would toss it up or serve it or pass it to the man (presumably her father). I could hear him offering advice and helpful suggestions on how to improve on whatever thing she was doing with the volleyball at the moment.

This group of people really held my attention (I promise I wasn't stalking or eavesdropping!) and made me think about the fact that: 1) this is sometimes a rare sight (an entire family unit walking together, kids included), and 2) how efficient they were at accomplishing so many good things at once. They were doing their activity together and although they were multitasking, (walking and doing volleyball drills at the same time), they were checking off a lot of boxes, so to speak. They were moving, using their muscles, spending quality time and engaging with one another and there were no screens or electronic devices involved! They were getting fresh air, natural vitamin D through the sun, and the list goes on and on.

Most people today don’t get enough exercise let alone spend enough time outside, in nature or in green spaces, and we know that spending time in nature is extremely beneficial to our overall health, both physical and mental. So I am encouraged and motivated to keep walking outside each day with my little dog, and to just share what I observe, because moving and exercising and doing small things to improve your health can be a lot easier than you might think.