I didn't actually cross a river but a busy intersection, and I wasn't going to Grandma's house, but a produce stand. What started out as an eco/exercise/ grocery run turned out to be an important re-connection with my community and myself.
With my emptied backpack, tunes in my ears, and slathered on sunscreen, I set off on a 5 mile journey that would accomplish 3 goals: exercise, save on gas, load up my fruit and veggie supply. It turned out to be so much more! Before I got to the end of my street I was greeted by 2 neighbors and we exchanged brief pleasantries and caught up with each other's lives a bit. Those few words face to face instantly reconnected me to my neighborhood, instead of the typical wave from my car window as I would speed by. Around the corner I noticed a huge birds nest high up in a tree that I've passed by a thousand times without noticing. I even got my aging ego boosted by whistles from a passing truck (I know they'll whistle at anything with a ponytail but I'll take it!), and I made it to my destination that was snarled with angry cars. I strolled right in and was greeted (I say rewarded) with a fruit smoothie sample from a young Mennonite girl. Ah...
With a napsack stuffed with veggies and asparagus spears sticking out of the top like an Elizabethan ruff, I began my journey home. "Hey Polly!", a wonderful couple shouted from their car at the stoplight, "we just moved in down the street!" Would I ever have known that if I wasn't out strolling in the area? Friendly strangers waved from their yards, dare I say the sidewalk cracks were a thing of beauty? It felt so good to be out in the world instead of encapsulated in the home, the car, the office, the mega-store, the event.
I did, in fact, accomplish my three original goals but I experienced so much more! The walk slowed me down, opened my eyes, gave me a decent dose of Vitamin D, and made me feel part of a community that I forgot was around me.
My message as a motivational speaker is to help people rediscover their health through food, fitness and fun. I rediscovered how all of that can be achieved by adding in the simple and pleasant practice of reconnecting with your neighborhood and community by taking a walk to the corner store.
In Health,
Polly Pitchford, your motivational speaker who continues to discover that our ancestors lived a lot healthier lives
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