The Five-Minute Detour

The health benefits of (literally) stepping away.

All,

There are days when I’m actually glad a screen resides between us, as is the case right now when my hair is affixed to my forehead with just the right amount of sweat.

It’s not the prettiest of pictures. But that perspiration is actually the glistening result of a bit of an experiment rooted in our mission here at Lighten Up.

One where I’m attempting to hold myself accountable to get outside and play.

Even if it’s for a single-digit number of minutes per day.

So that was the logic that forced me to get up from my desk, leave my phone behind, and take a walk around the property where our business resides. I’ve clocked it numerous times and it’s a 5-minute journey if you’re moving at a good clip.

Before I went, however, I will admit there was a literal, knee-jerk reaction against doing so. My brain fired off a litany of reasons why it wasn’t plausible in the middle of the afternoon.

You’re just procrastinating.

It’s going to be even harder to focus when you get back.

You can do it later. When you get home. When work is done.

Suffice it to say, I’m glad I ignored the nagging. But as I made my way around the building just now on the ten-toe express, I found myself thinking about how odd it is that our psyches have a mechanism to talk ourselves out of doing things that are good for us (I mean, is it just me?) while all of the arguments above are equally applicable – if not more – to passing time by mindlessly scrolling on my phone.

Which is exactly what I would have done if I didn’t walk away from my desk.

So that’s why I’m sitting here now thinking about how our headspace is riddled with double standards:

A few minutes of checking headlines and watching dumb videos – I deserve that reprieve.

A few minutes of fresh air and movement – what difference would that make?

Do you see the juxtaposition of the justifications? Can you sense that in our all-or-nothing approach to health that we’ve been wired to discredit the small things that can actually make the biggest difference?

Because not only did that walk I just take get me to breathe deeper, circulate my blood, and stop me from absorbing a bunch of junk on my feed, it helped provide perspective.

I stepped out of my office as one person and came back as another.

And that’s exactly what a detour should achieve.

Here’s to you,