The After Effects of 100,000 Steps in One Week

Soooo… I’ve been pretty inactive over the past few years. That changed recently when some friends came to visit the city. I doubled, tripled, quadrupled, and sometimes even quintupled my average steps per day. On a typical day, I’d be lucky to get 5,000 steps in. But that particular week, I was averaging between 15K-25K steps a day.

My feet were starting to hurt just a few days in, but I sucked it up and kept going. I wanted to make the most out of spending time with friends that I barely ever get a chance to meet in person.

Finally last weekend, I took a break from walking and mostly stayed indoors. My feet were thankful for the rest and recovery.

But today and yesterday, I’ve been noticing how restless I am sitting in front of the computer. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, yes, I’d like to go out and be more active. My feet are feeling better now, so it’s not hard to go out for a walk and such. But on the other hand, I also would like to work on creative projects, and most of them involve using the computer.

Here are some solutions I’m came up with:
1. Spend less time on the computer in general, and be more intentional of what I’m doing on it
2. Whenever possible, try to take meetings (Zoom calls) without sitting in a chair (maybe I could try my Kindle in the backyard, possible on a mat or something)
3. Schedule computer time to work on specific tasks
4. Stand/exercise while watching anything
5. Buy a standing desk, or convert current desk into standing desk

It kind of sucks because beyond just computer use, I’m thinking about all those times I sit to eat, read, while commuting, etc. My body feels weird just sitting so many hours a day, now.

I’m thinking about my goals for the next quarter and how much time I’d spend actively sitting in front of the computer. For one, there is music production. When I’m recording vocals, I tend to stand up for those parts. But otherwise, I’m sitting for the most part. When I blog, I’m sitting. When I post on forums, I’m sitting. When photoshopping, digital campaigning, or drafting digital products, I’m sitting.

I also do other activities offline while sitting, mostly when I am writing or reading. For writing, it could be journaling, taking notes, planning, etc. For reading, it could be researching topics, forum posts, eBooks, or physical books. It’s hard to stand or walk while doing these activities.

For now, I’m thinking about testing a time limit of 4 hours a day on the computer. During that time, I’d focus on making music, blogging, posting updates in this one particular forum, and planned research. I’d try to avoid idle time as much as possible.

I’m not really sure how to plan out the rest of my day. Would I go to the gym? Go for a walk? I would definitely clean/organize more. I’m also interested in taking in-person vocal lessons. Dancing is another activity I’d like to try, though I’m waiting for my gym membership to be close to its expiration. But once I get tired of that, what then?

I’m trying to think of creative activities while standing/walking that I could test out. For example, maybe recording audios and converting them into podcasts. Maybe outlining the next book idea I’d like to work on, through audio, and then converting it to text later. Ooh, maybe dance videos? Streaming while walking? Vlogs? Maybe finding a creative outlet that I could do while standing (such as painting)?

This is an odd problem to have as someone who has so much free time. I’m feeling a bit antsy again sitting here, so off the computer I go! Probably gonna get some food and then head out for a walk. Maybe I’ll listen to audiobooks while walking. If I find any good long-term solutions, I’ll definitely share more in a future post. 🙂