10 Сhanges That Occurred in My Life Thanks to Walking 6,000 Steps a Day
Just one month is enough to completely change your life. You can do it too.
My background
I am a software developer with seven years of experience. It’s a classic case of a sedentary job. If you want to grow, you have to work hard, just like everywhere else.
I go to the gym three times a week, though sometimes there were long breaks due to injuries.
I eat right, with no bad habits.
Lately, I’ve become increasingly aware of the value of time, and at some point, the realization of how much of it I had lost previously really weighed on me.
All this translated into priorities heavily shifted towards work, not the job where I was officially employed, but side activities necessary for growth and increasing my value in the job market.
Time passed, and the number of ailments increased…
This isn’t even taking into account that since birth, I’ve had a diagnosis related to the musculoskeletal system that will trouble me for my entire life.
What was the problem?
Just six months ago, I had serious doubts about whether I would be able to walk in the foreseeable future.
After a few hours of work, even with breaks, my neck was bursting with tension and pain.
I tried massages — they helped, but only temporarily.
I increased my workouts in the gym — to no avail.
Doctors were at a loss.
Walking a kilometer up a slight hill with a 2–3 degree incline seemed like an insurmountable task to me.
My knee ligaments couldn’t handle it; they became inflamed, and I couldn’t walk the next day, sometimes even two.
I thought it was the end.
How did I start rehabilitation?
I didn’t give up.
I knew which distance previously caused pain and inflammation.
I halved it. Removed inclines. I walked either strictly on flat ground or downhill.
I deliberately chose a route through the city to avoid problematic sections.
The first rule was always to avoid exacerbations.
Listen to your body.
A month passed, I walked about 2–3 thousand steps nearly every day.
I decided to try adding 1km of incline again. It worked.
I no longer felt such severe pain as before. But, a slight tension still appeared towards the end of the distance.
The key was not to overdo it.
I integrated the incline into my routine. One day downhill, one day uphill. I alternated.
Another month passed, and I began to realize that I no longer felt tension at the end of the walk. I felt much better.
My neck still flared up during long periods of sitting.
Since I understood there was a strict correlation between walking and neck pain (as a non-doctor, I can only outline the reasons indirectly), and the pain was still manifesting, I decided on the next step.
I realized that 2–4 thousand steps, walked 4–5 days a week, were much below the norm.
At the end of 2023, I became curious: how much had I walked before? Back when nothing hurt?
Power of data and statistics
I found my archived step records (thanks to Google Cloud) for the last 5 years.
It’s interesting to see statistics directly correlating with the deterioration of my health.
- 2019 — 2 million steps
- 2020 — 1.5 million steps
- 2021—1.2 million steps
- 2022—1 million steps
- 2023 — 1 million steps
Worst month — December 2020, 28k steps.
Second worst month — December 2022, 37k steps.
Best month — July 2019, 280k steps.
The next three best months — May, June, and August of the same year, each with 250k steps.
Conclusion?
Need to walk at least 2 million steps a year.
That’s how I acquired the primary goal of the 2024.
After looking at recent statistics, where I was walking between 3,000 to 5,000 steps on 5 out of 7 days, I realized that I could take on the next challenge — 6,000 steps every day.
Why not 10,000?
Because I know how to listen to my body. I don’t succumb to marketing, I don’t compare myself to others, and I don’t compete with them.
At that point, I knew I could manage 10,000 — but it would cause maximum discomfort and likely lead to another inflammation, which must be avoided at all costs.
From January 1, 2024, I started working towards this goal. A month has passed, with 11 more to go.
My life has changed almost beyond recognition.
What has changed?
1. Every single day has a purpose.
No more suffering and guilt over the uselessness of a day lived.
There is always an easy, achievable, manageable goal.
2. Every day brings a guaranteed release of the joy hormone.
No matter how your day went, there’s always at least one good thing that happened. You reach the goal — you’re pleased with yourself.
3. Every day, you invest in the best asset you have — your body.
We’ve already talked about why it’s important to take care of your body, here.
Long story short, we can’t deny our nature; our consciousness needs somewhere to reside, and the health of our consciousness is directly linked to the vessel in which it dwells.
4. Each step is a step towards your dream.
Following from the previous point.
The longer you live, the more you can achieve, your dream included.
5. Strengthened my body
The pain that had been troubling me for over six months disappeared. Back and neck pain. Knee pain significantly eased.
Walking engages most of our muscles, including those of the upper back. Moreover, movement stimulates the joints to produce much more lubricating fluid, which reduces pain.
6. Found the right amount of physical activity.
I struggled to find the right balance of activity for myself.
Realized that just going to the gym wasn’t enough.
But steps + gym finally did the trick.
7. Less procrastination.
Although this wasn’t a major issue for me, having less free time naturally leads to less time for procrastination.
8. A surge in productivity.
60% of all my ideas last month came to me during walks.
9. Less stress.
Walking takes at least an hour, which is more than enough to fully disconnect from all problems.
This point also requires other skills, which I discuss in my blog.
10. Increased happiness level.
All the points mentioned inevitably lead to an increase in the overall sense of happiness in life.
Last thoughts
It wasn’t an easy decision for me.
Not just because I now have less time in my day for work and educational activities…
I’m an anxious person, and the first question I started asking myself after this decision was how much the probability of getting into trouble would increase with such an increase in walking, and frankly, the answer still doesn’t please me.
I’m strong enough not to fall into such simple traps of my mind, and I understand that if we multiply something close to zero by anything, we still get something close to zero.
A nagging voice still repeats: though close to zero, it’s now much more than before.
I’m not sure I’ve found the perfect balance here, but one thing I know for sure.
I’ve already dealt with many difficult situations and found the desired balance.
The most important thing: the chance of dying increases much faster if you stay at the old step norm.
Thank you for reading!
If you liked the article, please consider subscribing for future updates!
You can also follow me on LinkedIn | Twitter or you can buy me a coffee.
