Oh, the sun, it burns. But I must let it burn, for I need to get outside and get that daily exercise in, no matter how hot and sweaty I get.
For a while now I’ve been getting back into the habit of taking walks. I used to take them around the edge of SAIT, but then COVID hit and I fell out of the habit. That path around SAIT is blocked by construction now, so instead I’ve been going down along the Bow River, first just down to the Peace Bridge, and then down to Prince’s Island Park, for a total walk of around 4.4km. And I try to do it at least every 2-out-of-3 or 3-out-of-4 days. It was rough going at first since I was so badly out of shape, but it’s been slowly getting easier and I’ve been getting better at controlling my breathing.
I’ve also been trying to get my weight under control again. With these walks, and cutting out nearly all snacks, and trying to buy healthier meal options, I’ve lost about 6kg over the last couple months. Still a long ways to go, but it’s a start.
This renewed strive for healthiness wasn’t entirely unprompted, though. A couple months ago I had what was, well, not an actual heart attack but some kind of mild cardiac episode. I was dumb though, and didn’t seek immediate treatment. It was “only” a feeling of mild discomfort around the heart so it was easy to brush off as “well, it can’t be that serious, I’ll go for help if it gets any worse…” And, honestly, I was kind of too ashamed to seek help. Yup, this blob of a human being hasn’t been taking very good care of himself, of course his arteries are clogged to hell, why should doctors even give a shit if he lets himself get this way…
But it has been a bit of a wakeup call; taking care of my health is now less of an abstract thing that I acknowledge but just floats around in the back of my mind and now more of a “you will get healthier or you will die” imperative. I’ve been feeling mostly back to normal lately, so the biggest danger is that heightened sense of urgency dissipating and falling back into the old habits again. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve tried to make the necessary lifestyle changes, but maybe, hopefully, now it’s serious enough to permanently stick.