Every week, in these newsletters, we discuss one of the things that have prompted some deeper thought during the week before. Frequently the source is one of the emails that I read daily. In this week's 3-2-1 from James Clear, he shared a quote from Soren Kierkegaard that needs to be shared.
Kierkegaard was not a name that was familiar to me. It has been a long time since I took a philosophy course. For the life of me, I could not recall who he was. I could not even hazard a guess as to what century he lived in! Let's be honest, he does not have a household name, but the quote though was powerful enough for me to look into him a bit.
Here's a quick instruction to Kierkegaard. He was widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. (Let's be honest, I couldn't even remember what existentialism was, and had to look up it) On to Kierkegaard, he was born in Denmark and lived from 1813-1855. One of his most well known peers in the existentialist camp was Friedrich Nietzsche. The existentialists explored the meaning of life and the roles that individual choice has on our destiny. Many existentialists were atheistic, but some, including Kierkegaard, believe that God played a role in the choices that we make.
Enough about existentialism and Kierkegaard as a philosopher, let's move on to the quote that Clear shared.
"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. Even if one were to walk for one's health and it were constantly one station ahead—I would still say: Walk!
Besides, it is also apparent that in walking one constantly gets as close to well-being as possible, even if one does not quite reach it—but by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Health and salvation can be found only in motion... if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right."
Does this remind you of anything? This is a statement that we make in the office frequently:
The concept of walking for our health is a powerful one. It is so simple. Walking breaks down barriers for many people. Many of us think exercise needs to be this challenging, exhausting routine of movements, but it does not have to be. Rather than get started with exercise, we procrastinate, we hyperanalyze, in the tend we avoid starting at all. In Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about taking small steps in order to become the type of person who exercises. Eliminate barriers to exercise, and do whatever you can to make it easy to start exercising!
In this quote, Kirkegaard discusses the impact that walking has on our physical health. However, he leaves out the impact that walking can have on our mental health. The time spent walking can be used to process some of life's stresses.
If you are struggling to begin an exercise routine... Just out your sneakers on and go for a walk to get the ball rolling! You'll feel better when you finish, and you might just want to do it again the next day!
