Actually I don't have a dog. I'm talking about my personal proclivity and primal need to be walked, to move about at more than a snail's pace and counteract the computer-driven sedentary work life so many of us share. For me the 20-minute walk to work is simply not enough exercise to work through stress, and my usual outdoor sports are foiled by darkness during winter.
Pretty much never have I been motivated to join a gym, but the winter exercise at northern latitudes has always been a challenge. In Seattle I swam at a public pool, though not as often as would have been ideal. Typically when I think of a gym I think of an overpriced opportunity to be a rat on a wheel, huffing and puffing with all the other type-A overacheivers and people trying to lose weight. And to tell it like it is, I'm just not motivated to go indoors for a basically solitary activity in the same way as I am motivated to play outside.
Yet this past winter I joined the gym in a desperate move against insomnia, depression, and stress. Really I had tried lots of other "sleep tips" and activities until breaking down one day and signing up for a two-year contract I never intended to keep at a whopping $70/month. Voila. It worked. A little bit of exercise on a regular basis within three blocks of my house and literally on my route to work.
Too bad I have only gone once since Daylight Savings opened up my outdoor options once more. Guess I am not so different from a dog after all.
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