Small things. Some small things can have a big impact on different aspects of our lives. They can help us be more productive, live a healthier life or simply make us enjoy some details that in normal circumstances we would have found irrelevant. Lately I’ve been thinking about such “improvements” and the effect they can have, in the end, on the overall quality of my life.
The first example is: … walking to and from work (and by extension living within a walking distance of the workplace).
It’s good for me because I am guaranteed to walk around 20 minutes/day, so guaranteed physical activity. It also helps me put my thoughts in order when going to work and to unwind when coming from work. I lose the stress associated with commuting and the torture to find a parking space. Great stuff.
Of course, there are some downsides to this (slightly higher rent price, bad weather sometimes) but nothing is really free in this life, is it? And although the price of the rent is higher, this is usually easily offset by the cost of living further away + cost of gas used to commute. Not to mention that if you don’t want to waste your life on the freeway racing snails (I never really quite get why they call it rush hour) you have to come in to work either very early or very late.
But when walking, the time it takes you to get there is relatively constant.
Once you’ve walked to work (even for a short period of time) you’ll never want to go back on relying on the car to take you there. So, because of the physical/mental and cost benefits associated, walking to work is definitely a step to a better me :)