the corner office

I mentioned last year how flat I'd been post-COVID, but that it was "getting better since January".

By the end of 2023 I wasn't in good shape. There were days when the half-mile walk to the station - admittedly partly uphill - felt unmanageable, and I'd catch the bus to the station instead. In London I'd take the tube to and from the station to work, rather than walk the few blocks. We went on holiday that Christmas, went out for walks, climbing the tors and I'd be trailing behind the rest of the family, battling to keep up. Things came to a head when one day, I was doing some mundane housework, and had to sit down, wiped out.

I didn't know what was causing my "decline". Each bout of COVID had left me flatter, but I also wasn't exercising much. Cycle commuting was a thing of the past - neither Ronwen nor I had been thrilled at the prospect of me heading back out into London traffic when lockdown ended. I'd cycle on the indoor trainer occasionally, but it was so boring that the least excuse was enough not to do it. I knew that wasn't going to change, and I wasn't going to head onto the roads, it was now winter and miserable out. But I needed to do something. I didn't feel like I was in a state to do much, but I could walk. And so, as a New Years' resolution of sorts, that's what I decided to do.

It started with avoiding the tube, no matter how lousy I felt. The walk wasn't long, and that became the small thing I'd aim to achieve each day. Same for the station to and from home. After a while, that was in the bag. I started walking further whenever I could. We live between two stations. I'd get off at the furthest-away station and walk home. I started taking "scenic routes" on the way home, adding a mile or half mile when I could. I started walking around London again, something I'd done years ago, and for whatever reason, stopped.

I felt better. I started feeling more alive than I'd felt in ages.

All of this raises the question: was it all some COVID hangover, or just ever-declining fitness, or old age? I don't know. Maybe a bit of all three. There are still days when I feel wiped out, or not quite right. Regular insomnia doesn't help.

But I can say that feeling fitter helps. Who'd have thought it? And it became a virtuous cycle - I just walked, no matter what, and the better I felt, the more I pushed myself. And eventually, it saw the start of a new "hobby", which will be the subject of my next post.