Really, walking outdoors is fun. It’s actually great. And if the weather outside is amazing, then one should take full advantage of it.
Yesterday evening, after many days, in fact months, I went on the terrace for my evening walk. The weather was great. The air was a bit breezy. And I had a good half an hour walk.
I enjoyed my walk a lot more than I usually enjoy my regular treadmill walks indoors. And the difference was really something big. I could feel my whole body moving differently and a bit more freely compared to my straight standing posture on the treadmill.
Sure, I do enjoy my treadmill walks, and I have been continuously walking on a treadmill for the past two months or so, almost every day. It’s great. It helps me to have the proper sweaty walk and great cardio. But the outdoors is also fun.
And I have decided that now winter has almost ended, so I am going to have a mix of both types of walk in my everyday life. I think it’s going to be more interesting, fun, and beautiful.
I am excited for my outdoor walks. What about you? Don’t wait too much. Spring is in its full charm right now. Go, have a walk outside. It’s good for your health and longevity. Don’t think too much now. Just put on those shoes and go. You will enjoy it.
I am noticing one thing. As I am growing older, I am more and more inclined towards home-cooked meals. For me, now, the Ghar ka khana is ultimate heaven.
Although since childhood I have been that kid who used to eat home-cooked meals only, and chips, biscuits, icecreams, or samosas were the things of the weekend. I was never that kid with a junk food habit.
But there was one more thing. I was also not the one who used to eat ghar ka khana happily. Actually, till age 8, I can remember I was the kid whose parents really struggled to feed her. I was very thin, usually sick, and an underweight kid then. Mummy papa tried many things, but it just didn’t work. I hated eating veggies and used to throw them in the dustbin. I had no liking for any fruit as such. Daal I didn’t like, roti, and rice I used to eat with a little oil and salt. Yeah, that was me. And bread? I used to like bread, jam, or bread with ghar ki malai then.
Mumma papa got me a few medicinal syrups so that I can feel hungry and eat proper meals, but that wasn’t very helpful either. Yes, samosa, maggie, noodles, icecream, chocolates, chips were all my occasional friends then. Occasionally means once a week or every two weeks here.
I was 8 when I got admitted to my hostel in Banasthali in the 4th standard. It was the year 2005.
There, things started changing. We had fixed meal times, and we had to reach our mess on time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. We used to take our plates, and our wardens used to serve us the meals. There, I started eating healthily. I don’t know what it was! Was that the effect of community, because we used to go together for our meals, sit with each other, eat and talk, and sometimes talk a lot and eat while we talked? I don’t know!
I kind of started eating like a healthy kid. The hatred for veggies took a bit of time to go, and it had to go because there I couldn’t throw my food in the dustbin so easily. I had to finish my food properly. And then, the variety of food, the taste, the menu was fortunately very good in my hostel. Sure, the hostel food goes through its own share of downs, but those few days were nothing compared to the tasty meals we had and enjoyed during our hostel days.
I developed my liking for eating healthy and normal ghar ka khana because of my hostel days. I know it might sound ironic to many of you, but it’s true in my case. My health got better. I went from an underweight kid to a healthy BMI girl over time, and it stayed very well during all those years there.
Then, after coming to Delhi for my college studies, I naturally became inclined towards ghar ka khana as I started living with my parents. And then, I kind of started admiring and loving Mumma’s specialities more and more. I remember those were the days when I used to think that I had missed a lot of my mumma’s food, and now I am going to make up for all those years. Yes, I used to eat in my college canteen as well, and that was the time when I fell in love with momos, but ghar ka khana had become the ultimate satisfaction by then.
Today, I am not living in my hostel or with my mom permanently, but one thing I am grateful for is that I have fairly developed the taste and a lot more liking for ghar ka healthy and tasty khana. And honestly, I am grateful for this liking.
Yes, I do have my KFC chicken burger, momos, and chocolates, and cakes, but I have intentionally brought them to a few cheat meals or day outs in a month. They are occasional. Ghar ka khana is the regular thing for me.
I hope more and more people start including more home-cooked meals in their lives. I know it’s not easy every time. Especially when you are not good at cooking, it is difficult. And many times, you have a time crunch as well. However, taking a step towards making this happen is a hundred percent worth your time. I have no doubt about it.
It truly is. Imagine you wake up naturally, without an alarm, after a deep restorative sleep at night, and feel very fresh and excited to get up and start your day on a healthy note. Isn’t it a blessing?
For me, it surely is. And especially now, when I have started to listen to my body and understand my rhythm and energy throughout the day, I have started seeing the immediate results of proper sleep, proper rest time, and waking up feeling fresh and healthy towards the day ahead.
It’s like you are starting your day with your happy hormones, right? Isn’t that cool? For me, a hundred percent.
Honestly, I am kind of developing a lot of love and respect for early to bed and early to rise thing. And when you actually live it, you get to know what all you actually miss while scrolling social media and Netflixing all night. I have done that. And I do these things still now and then. But the time, energy, and intention behind those things have changed, or I can say are changing. And for me, it’s a healthy and positive thing.
The feeling of having a proper, good night, restful, and happy sleep without any interruptions, and waking up naturally after a few good hours of rest is pure gold. And this is one of the foundations of our health and longevity, which we don’t take seriously enough.
Sure, life happens. You fall sick. You are not in a good physical and mental state, relatively, and sleep gets affected. No doubt about it. But, we have the power to start, restart, again start, and restart again and again to sleep early, take proper rest for our body and mind rejuvenation, and wake up not because of an alarm, but your internal body alarm, every day.
I hope you have a good sleep, a very good rest time, and a very beautiful, calm, quiet, and soft mornings ahead.
Sometimes life surprises you not by sending you a gift, but by reminding you of a gift you once prayed for. You got it, and it has become so natural that you almost forgot it.
While scrolling on my phone, I saw a YouTube short. The theme was around heavy thigh girlies and their everyday dresses, clothing, and lifestyle choices centred around the theme.
You know what, after a few seconds, I remembered how my PCOD and unusual weight gain had made me a heavy, fatty thigh girl, and how, for the first time in my life, I felt my inner thighs rubbing against each other. And this was not a very happy feeling for me. This change was something very unusual that I faced in my late twenties, around two years ago.
And I remember the days when I wanted to get rid of the experience of my inner thighs rubbing against each other. I had PCOD, weight gain, tiredness, and a lot of unusual fatigue. And being a no-gym, no regular exercise girl made the change a bit more difficult on a personal level.
But I started doing one thing. I incorporated walking. Simple walk. Evening walks on my terrace — anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, and I continued this religiously for several months. For several months, I used to wear my lower and a t-shirt, put on my shoes, and head on to my terrace with the smartwatch on my wrist.
No pressure. No specific goals. Just a decision to move my body. Preferably to walk, because I find it very easy, simple, and doable on most days.
And now, after the more or less regular walks, continuously for more than one and a half years, my slim-fit high waist jeans that once stuck around my thighs and I had left any hope of wearing that again, fitted me beautifully just like before.
I was surprised, and shocked at the same time! I kid you not when I am saying this. I wasn’t expecting this change at all. I had given up on my favourite jeans.
Results like these compel you to stick to your seemingly very simple habits every day. And it has made me more aware of the benefits of simple habits like this in our everyday lives.
Starting small, keeping it simple, making it fit in our schedule very easily, showing up with a lot of love and care we deserve from ourselves, and enjoying the process along the way. This mindset shift brings the desired transformation.
Getting properly in my old high-waisted jeans and not feeling the inner thighs rubbing at every step are only two visible changes. Walking has also made me positive, optimistic, creative, and reflective in beautiful ways.
Walking kept me alive. It keeps me alive.
Try walking. You will naturally start to feel the physical, mental, emotional, and your creative health and well-being only getting better and better without any noise, pressure, strict diets, gym workouts, and calorie counts.
When we were in school and college, our dreams used to be so aspirational. Big house, big car, international trips, financial abundance, this, that, and whatnot. And though I am still very ambitious deep down for the dreams that feel true and amazing to me, I didn’t think back then that a few dreams would be so simple yet difficult to live.
For example, drinking enough water and staying hydrated all day.
Now, this should be a part of anyone who is on a healthy lifestyle journey. True! Hundred percent agree. But the truth needs to be told. Brushing my teeth every morning is the only healthy habit I can do on autopilot, or, as they say, naturally.
Apart from this, any and every habit that comes under the umbrella of healthy lifestyle, be it sleeping early, waking up early, doing meditation, doing exercises, going for walks, eating home cooked meals, cooking at home, eating timely, reading books, journalling, gratitude, prayers, weekly skin and haircare, weekly grocery stock audit, home cleaning and household chores, learning and upskilling, updating my CV time to time, future thinking and planning, present moment enjoyment and living, staying in touch with my besties, talking once or twice a day with my parents, and second parents(in-laws), wardrobe organization, haircut, nails cut, and, drinking just enough water to stay hydrated, healthy, calm, and active – it’s a lot!
I have understood that for me, each and everything demands planning, scheduling, practising, and repetition throughout, as per my needs. And now, I am at peace with this reality that I am not someone who naturally wakes up early, sleeps early, eats early, eats on time, eats healthy, drinks 3 litres of water per day, does workouts, reads a lot, writes a lot, does self-study, and upskilling.
Because I am in the process. And I am in love with the process. I have trust in the process that it will make my vision come true very soon in the form of a version of me that my heart knows deep down I am and I meant to be.
But yeah..for now, it’s an effort to drink enough water regularly. Though I have become more mindful of that and keep my water bottle right in front of me beside my laptop. It helps. I see it more, I drink more often. And proper hydration, coupled with home-cooked meals on time, easily keeps me far from junk food cravings. So that’s a win for sure. Rest will be taken care of as well.
Ok, now I am taking a sip. You also drink enough water for your overall health and well-being.
Srishti Kumari 