🚶‍♀️ TREE 548: Lois Payne no longer hates walking

I’m very pleased to announce that this week the words are written by Lois Payne. I’ll be doing the drawings and choosing the music. I work with Lois. She is super smart and funny and she keeps the Teams chat from getting boring. Her official bio is: ‘Lois Payne is 23 years old and from Shropshire. She has a Master's Degree in Creative Writing and a PhD in procrastination. But she's trying, and hopes to produce a collection of short stories in the near future.’ You can read one of her very short stories by going here and scrolling about halfway down the page —Jeff

I used to hate going for walks. Or at least, I’d enjoy them once I was out there, but the thought of actually getting up and leaving my warm house voluntarily for no reason other than to move my limbs? Out of the question.

The idea of going out in the cold was so unappealing. The hassle of donning my too-thin coat and abandoning my cosy room to shiver in a wet field.

Eventually, I bought myself a thick puffer coat and left it on my bed each morning where I could see it. Since then, I’ve walked every single day for months and can’t imagine ever losing the habit.

I have a clearer mind, fewer aches and pains and in general, just enjoy life a bit more.

Here’s the thing, people with consistent habits aren’t grinding away miserably every day. They don’t have some magical discipline gene. They just make it as easy as possible to do what needs to be done.

It doesn't have to be anything big; it could be as simple as getting a new coat.

Figure out what’s stopping you from moving forwards and change it. Leave your sketchpad open on the desk, swap the phone on your bedside table with that book you’ve been meaning to read for months, pump the tire on your old unicycle (hey, whatever you’re into).

Make it easy to succeed and difficult to fail.

That’s all it is.

Whatever you’re selling, Carl’s not interested.

I heard The Beaches for the first time last week. Here are two versions of Blow Up. I love the vocals on the live version on Spotify. The video is good fun.

Grow slowly
Jeff