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Many things about adult life aren't very enjoyable, but one aspect of my current life that really annoys me is a lack of natural opportunities to exercise.
When I attended university, I lived on campus for two years in a dormitory. I would walk all over the grounds from one class to another, adding up to several miles a day every day. Even when I stopped living on campus, I took public transit to school, which meant I needed to scurry from one bus stop to another throughout the day.
My job at the time did not involve manual labor; I worked as a mathematics tutor. However, the particular design of our facility meant that kids were spread out between many tables, and I would spend the entirety of my shifts walking from table to table.
I'd engage in a lot of physical activity with my friends as well. My high school friends enjoyed walking in parks and through the local neighborhoods, while my college friends were avid dance game enthusiasts and would hang out at the local arcades. Between the two groups, I was on my feet and moving around almost every time I met up with a friend.
Today the situation is completely different. Our neighborhood is located deep within a residential part of town, far away from business districts and even farther from most of our friends. The only roads that lead outside the neighborhoods are major streets, filled with fast traffic and containing no bicycle lanes. My office is several dozen miles away, much too far for bicycling to be practical. My current job is a desk job, requiring me to stay stationary in front of a computer screen for eight hours. And with the onset of COVID-19, most of my friends now socialize online, where no physical effort is needed.
The result is that if I want to exercise these days, I must actively set aside time and take away time from other activities to do it. No longer is physical exertion and calorie-burning a natural part of my day. If I want to cycle, I have to set aside time in the morning or evening to do it. If I want to walk around and stretch my legs at the office, I have to step away from my desk and stop working to do it. And if I want to go to the arcade or swimming pool to get another workout in, I have to sacrifice spending time with my wife, who is still nervous about going out into the world.
Of course, when I have to actively modify my daily routine in order to make time for exercise, I'm less motivated to do it. That might be why my weight loss has stalled for the last two months.
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[Last updated: 2021-10-28]