Step Up for Health

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Our lift or, since I'm here in Seattle Washington U.S.A., should I say elevator, has not been working for a couple of days now. As we wait for just the correct spare part to be ordered in, our dear old lift or elevator, will not be up and running till Tuesday, at the earliest. Yes, having to use the stairs these couple of days has been somewhat of a hellish experience for me. I find myself huffing and puffing more than I should as I climb. Just halfway up to our condo unit, I have to stop to catch my breath. It's four flights of stairs!

I remember the glory days when I used to take the stairs willingly. King Edward Hall hall was my home for four years when I was studying at the univerity in Singapore. There were these infamous 127 steps leading from the hall of residence to the National University Hospital. I remember those stairs as being really steep at parts and had an unfinished look to it.

My third year in the university was the year I decided to get fitter. I would run up and down these 127 steps repeatedly before taking a run or two around the campus. This was almost a daily routine and for non-sporty me, this was a really big deal. The memory of those days are so clear to me. Why then do the motivation and willpower I used to have elude me so these days?

It's just four flights, Karen! I will be taking the stairs more from now on.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson