What Happens When You Miss A Day of Walking

What happens when you miss a day of walking? What happens when one day becomes two days and two days becomes five days?

Many of us suffer from an all-or-nothing mentality. We think in absolutes: good or bad. Active or couch potato. Fat or thin. Fit or not. Dieting or binging. I’ve heard it time and time again from 99 Walks Pack Members, thought it myself and been told it from my friends: I missed a day and then it became two and then five and I don’t know what happened ….

I know what happened.

First, you broke the habit. Whatever habit or routine you have in place, it broke. Whether by your own doing or something else (weather, injury, illness, travel), your walking routine got off track.

Second, you told yourself, whether consciously or not, that you have failed. And, just possibly, your negative voice added the word “again” to that thought, as in “I thought this time would be different but I failed. Again.”

There is a simple solution: lace up your sneakers, call a friend or fire up a 99 Walks class or podcast and head out the door.

Beause as soon as you take one walk, you begin to reinstate your habit and, more importantly, you tell your negative voice that she is wrong. You didn’t quit. You didn’t give up. This time is different.

Just one walk changes the story. Just one walk moves you forward.

Chances are, you will have to do this over and over and over because things will happen to pull you off of your walking practice. You will miss days and that is okay. Let me say that again: that is okay. Because we are the kind of people who let the past go. We are the kind of people who move forward, one step at a time.