One of the things that modern technology has improved exponentially, is communication. Adequate communication is absolutely critical for the development of human relationships in all walks of life. Life can change drastically when there are communication breakdowns such as I have been experiencing recently. My sense of humor is tasked daily as I realize how sometimes we humans often take things for granted.
I literally have been thrown back in time to a place where communication is challenging to say the least. There is virtually no cell phone service (even texting is often unreliable) and alternate telephone communication means you dial a number on a “cordless” handset with plastic buttons with a voice mail system. Here in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina, you can be as close as 6 miles to a fairly decent-sized town and have the only option for internet be from a satellite. In outer space. Have you ever tried to use a “voice over internet” satellite phone??? Holy Moly. To even imagine it, first you must fling yourself 30 years back in time when you must remember an actual number, dial it on the keypad buttons and when you’re really hi-tech, you have a voicemail system. This was cool because you could check your messages from any payphone. Lol. What’s a payphone you ask? Well, that is a whole other story…. 😉
Using “Voicemail” again after having a “smartphone” for over a decade, feels like you might as well have a rotary phone. What is a rotary phone you ask? Well, apparently you missed out on ALL the fun. To listen to messages, I must first remember a number, dial it on actual buttons, press star*(…or is it pound#???) And then enter a code number (that I also have to remember), and then wait for the really slow computer voice to say, (complete with funny robot accent) “You have 1 new message… Press one to listen to your messages, press two to….” before I can even listen to the message. Seriously. This was state of the art, when?
As modern technology, and the many conveniences it provides increases exponentially, we tend to (rapidly!) forget the tedious and time-consuming ways of the past. And although nobody really cares about old-timey dial telephones, (you know the one…with the option to switch to “pulse” mode … “Huh???…You say?), the simple life before modern-day technology, had a lot more value than we realize. Things that help us do things easier and more efficiently are generally improvements to life. However, by taking away activities that required us to actually get up and physically DO something, go and talk to somebody face to face, manually clean something, (or heaven help us if we actually had to walk to town!), we have slowly eliminated a lot of physical activity from our daily repertoire.
Sure, these things seem like time-consuming chores. But what if they saved your life? What if the mere “inconvenient” act of walking the quarter-mile to the mailbox was the absolute best thing you were doing for yourself and you didn’t even know it? Life was once full of manual and laborious tasks. Every. Single. Day. Yet we now know these activities were actually keeping people healthy and active. Now, humans are more sedentary than ever. We are not meant to sit for many hours at a time, every day. Disease and poor health are epidemic today and affect every aspect of life. It is my belief that adding more natural movement is key to regaining and maintaining good health. And there is nothing more natural than walking.
Call me “old school,” but I feel fabulous after my daily walk…even if I only have time for the half-mile walk to the mailbox. Because after all, how convenient is it to feel like crap?
Are you ready to add a regular walking practice to your daily routine and change your life forever? I would love to help. Schedule an appointment for a FREE Consultation.
