Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 105: 🌿Healthy Habit 🌿

source

What is one healthy habit you practice regularly?

One healthy habit I keep in my life is walking, simple walk, not running or anything too hard. Every day almost, sometimes not perfect, but mostly I try. I go out early morning before the sun get too hot, sometimes sky still dark bluish, and I just walk. It feels ordinary but it not small for me, it’s like my own quotidianus ritus, "daily ritual" I don’t want to break. My legs carry me slow, sometimes fast, but I enjoy the air, the silence, the soft bird song.

---

source

When and why did you start this habit?

I can’t say I started it with big plan. Long time back, about three year ago, life felt heavy on my chest. My head full of things, stress, noise, too much. I wake up one morning and instead of lying still, I just put feet on the ground and go out. That first day wasn’t even long walk, maybe ten minutes, but something change. I liked the way air touched my face, cool and honest. After that, I told myself maybe I should try again next day. And slowly, step by step, it became what I do. Some call it discipline, I just call it small choice repeated. Disciplina kept me from breaking apart inside.

---

source

How has it improved your physical, mental, or emotional health?

Now when I think how it helped me, I see many sides. Physically, I notice my body feel lighter, I don’t pant when I climb stairs anymore. My legs got stronger, my shoulders less tight. Breathing deep is easier, heart pumps but not painful. Mentally, the change even bigger. In morning when I walk, my brain clears out fog. I don’t wake with loud thoughts, instead I find peace first before chaos come. Emotionally too, walking makes me calmer, sometimes I even feel grateful just to see sun rise. One time I watch the light spreading on the trees, I whisper carpe diem, seize the day, like I was given gift.

---

source

What challenges did you face while trying to keep up with it?

But of course, I struggled. At the start, waking up early was battle. The bed warm and my body said no. Many times I fail, I turn and close my eyes. Or maybe the rain outside strong and it stopped me. Other days, after long night work, my energy low. I missed mornings, then felt guilty. But later I learn one truth: not about perfect streak, it about keep coming back. If I skip one day, I try the next. The motto in my heart became per aspera ad astra, through hardship to stars. Slowly, I realized habit not broken by small failure, it only breaks if you stop completely.

---

Sometimes while walking, I notice things that remind me life still moving. A stray dog passing, an old woman sweeping ground, children laughing while waiting for school bus. These little moments stick to me, like treasure of ordinary. They show me world is bigger than my worries. My walk isn’t only exercise, it’s lesson of noticing.

---

source

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start this habit too?

Advice I can share, if anyone want to start same thing, is to keep it small first. Don’t think about one hour or two miles, that pressure kill the joy. Just put on slipper or shoe, step outside, breathe once, maybe five minutes. That’s enough. Over time, the body begins to want more, like thirst. Don’t fight yourself too hard. If you skip, don’t beat yourself, tomorrow is there waiting. Start again. Slowly it becomes natural, you don’t force, you just flow.

---

I remember one morning, sky was cloudy, I didn’t want to go. But I told myself just step out for short. Ended up walking for forty minutes because once I start, I didn’t want stop. That moment teach me habit lives in beginning, not the length. You just need to begin.

---

There’s something about walking that feels ancient, like human beings were made to do it. Not running machines, not cars, just two legs moving. When I walk, I think of vita est motus, life is movement. If I stop, I feel stuck in mind too. But when I move forward, even small, my spirit follows.

---

One challenge that still stays is when I travel or sleep too late. Then my schedule break and I feel lazy. But I try to forgive myself. Habits are not prison, they are friends. If you treat them gentle, they stay longer. If you force, they break. That’s what I learned from walking.

---

Over time, walking turned from health exercise into something more personal. It’s like prayer but without words. Just steps and breathing, my own language with the morning. Sometimes I think maybe I will grow old with this habit, still walking when my hair turns white. And if that happen, I’ll still whisper Latin to myself—carpe diem, per aspera ad astra, vita est motus.

---

So yes, walking may look small to other people, but to me it saved me in many ways. It gives my body energy, my mind calm, my emotions gentle. And it keep me reminded: health is not always about big actions, sometimes it’s just about one step after another.

---

I invite @promisezella @etoro @imohmitch to participate in this contest

---

Cc,
@steem4nigeria

---