Daily writing prompt

Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

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The shut down made many of us more sedentary. And bored. So, like many, I sat around a lot, watched TV, used up all the flour and chocolate chips in the pantry. Sometimes I relieved our monotony by trying out new dishes, including desserts, then consuming them. While watching livestream shows. Or reading. Or browsing the internet.

I also dealt with the boredom by joining Ancestry.com and researching my dad’s side of the family. Lots of grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. dying from heart disease before they were fifty…

“I don’t like your blood pressure” my doctor said to me a year into the shut down.

One of my grandmothers died from a stroke, quite suddenly, at a party when she was in her seventies. I have always pictured her keeling over like a felled tree in the ballroom of the Bayou Desierd Country Club, a cigarette in one hand, a martini in the other.

And so, after that warning from my doctor, I changed my routine. First thing in the morning, I would throw on some clothes and walk. Fortunately, I live in a city with streets that resemble the view from the first crest of a roller-coaster, so even a short stroll can be strenuous. My morning hike included walking down a steep hill, then up the equally steep slope of another hill, around a small park, then back down, up a hill…

Experiences in college with classmates who had bulimia and anorexia made me averse to the verb “diet” and I won’t have a scale in the house. Let’s just say I changed my diet. Learned a whole new set of recipes.

My intent was not to reduce my weight but to lower my blood pressure. Which I did. The newly svelte shadow I cast on my walks was a nice bonus.

Now that I’ve retired I can walk whenever I want, so my hikes take place in the afternoon. The end of the shut down meant I sometimes go out to eat now, so I can’t control my intake as much, but pastries, bacon, butter, white bread, red meat, cheese, etc. are very occasional indulgences — no longer part of my daily diet.

Hopefully, this means I won’t someday ruin someone’s party by dropping dead in mid-sentence.