In the spring of 2024 I decided I needed to be moving more. I am highly motivated by goals and streaks so I committed to 10,000 (the arbitrary magic number) steps a day. I actually love to take long walks and run several times a week so for the most part, I enjoyed this goal.

Shortly after I began, I got the opportunity to travel to India for work. Once my travel was set I pretty quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to hit the step goal on my travel day. Between two back to back 10 hour flights and a time change it simply wouldn’t be possible. I was bummed for a minute, but this was a cool opportunity so I appreciated the 90 day streak I had achieved and let it go.

Now, I could have jumped right back in the next day, but I didn’t. The loss of momentum was real. Throughout the rest of the summer I achieved 15 days, 22 days, 3 days- but for some reason that loss of the big goal caused me to have a hard time getting back on the horse.

In November, as I approached my birthday, which I’ve long treated as my own personal New Year, I felt the strong desire to recommit to the movement goal. Hitting 10,000 steps for every day of that year felt like a monumental achievement and I was truly all in. I hit the pavement with enthusiasm and easily made it through the holidays and the less than ideal fall/winter weather. I cruised into 2025 and then came to an abrupt halt on January 3rd.

I woke up that morning and felt… off. From the moment I opened my eyes my stomach was making noise. I pushed through my early morning meetings and after ending a 10 o'clock call with my boss, I canceled everything else for the day, and slid to my office floor. And with the exception of fairly frequent bathroom visits, that is where I stayed. I still don’t know if it was something I ate, or a fast and aggressive bug, but I can’t recall the last time I felt such intense pain. Yet still, in the moments where the intensity would lift, my thoughts would drift to steps. I kept doing the math thinking it might be possible. Okay, maybe by the evening…the air would feel good…I can just slowly plod through the neighborhood…I’ll still get my 10,000 steps. Around 10 pm, I finally accepted the reality. I crawled myself to bed and collapsed into a resigned, exhausted, fitful sleep.

I awoke the next morning feeling okay. Tired, sore, weak, but whatever it was that I had battled had moved on. I laid in bed, lamenting the fact that I had made it less than 2 months into my year before I failed. And then, by some miracle, I stopped that train of thought. This was beyond my control, there was literally no way I could have done it the day before. This wasn’t a lack of self-disciple or planning, this was armageddon in my digestive track. And then I felt incredibly silly- realizing that I had done the exact same thing the year before. The India travel day- there was no way I could have done it and yet I still let those circumstances define my success. I hadn’t signed a contract or entered into a contest with other people. This was a challenge I devised, with rules I created- if they were my rules, why couldn’t I change them?! What else could be true in this case?

I took one more moment to ask myself why I was even doing this in the first place. And the honest truth was, I deeply wanted to age with a body that worked for me, not against me. I wanted to move my body as long as possible and this 10,000 step goal motivated me

So before I even took one step that morning, I rewrote the rules. I will walk 10,000 steps every single day that I can. A 20 hour transatlantic flight? I get a pause. Illness that leaves me unable to move? Grace until I can move again. The day doesn’t count toward my streak, but it doesn’t break it either.

Sometimes we get so stuck in our perception that we get in our own way. Our narrow view of a situation or a person or a product or an idea, limits what we can envision moving forward. Have you written some rules that aren’t serving you anymore? What else could be true for you?

For me… tomorrow will be another 10,000 step day (we’re hitting Magic Kingdom after all). I’ll keep moving, but more importantly, I’ll keep asking the questions that move me to growth.

A Journey of 10,000 Steps…