What You Gain and What You Lose in 10,000 Steps

Do you like walking?

10,000 steps a day, for the health of your mind and body.
When you walk, you can enjoy all sorts of scenery.
The changing of the seasons, the scent of flowers, the dance of insects on the embankment where the grass has just been mowed.
The flow of clouds, the whisper of the wind brushing through your hair, and is that the sound of birds courting that I feel at my fingertips?

Just kidding.
I don't actually walk that much.
What I got after moving was an electric bicycle that gathers the wisdom of humanity (?)!
Come now, become my legs and race across the earth!
I don't even mind the headwind; with this, I can reach the station 3km away in no time!

"That's obvious."

My husband mutters that coolly.

For the past two years, it has become my husband's daily routine to walk about 10km on weekends.
If he can adjust his time with remote work, he walks 10km on weekdays too.
When it rains, he sticks to the balcony like a dog waiting for a walk, checking the rain cloud radar to see the clouds moving east.
In two years, he's lost 10kg and even bought a new suit.

How wonderful a healthy body is.
Having undergone quite a physical transformation, my husband is now in top form.

However.
It seems that when just one person is in too good of a shape, it creates dissonance.

"That shop is 1.2km away, that's super close."
"It's faster to walk than to wait for the bus, it's only 2km at most!"
"Oh ho, 3km to the destination, alright, that's good!"

What's good about it? I didn't say I was going!?

Anyway, he wants to involve the family and make them walk.

No, I get it.
From his perspective, it's sharing the gift of health.
"It's nothing special, but please take it."

From our daughter's perspective, it's 1200% boring. The difference in motivation between 10,000 steps at a park and 10,000 steps of walking is clear, and she ends up clicking her tongue at the back of her father who keeps walking intently without breaking his own pace.
This tongue-click, may it reach you!

The other day, we went to the Kyoto Aquarium.

To our daughter who was happy saying, "It's Nemo!" and "Chin-chin-chin-chin garden eels!"
my husband would guide her to the next tank saying, "Look at this instead."
To our daughter who was stuck to the tank saying, "I want to take a picture of the ray!"
my husband would guide her to the tank above saying, "It's easier to see the ray from above."

Our daughter clearly starts to get annoyed.
When I complained, "Could you please match her pace?"
he replied, "I want to walk 10,000 steps today, you see."

I don't care!! Are you a migratory fish!!

It seems that once he starts walking, my husband, who has embarked on a stoic life like a shark that loses oxygen if it stops for even a second, loses sight of our daughter's pace.

By the way, we walked to the Kyoto Aquarium from Kyoto Station. It's a distance of about 1.5km.
Of course, that's an easy distance for my husband, and in fact, taking the train for one stop is like torture to him.
For our daughter, who takes it for granted that we reach our destination by car, it's a fair distance, but since train trips are fun too, I told her many times before we left the house that "we're going to walk a lot today."

We walked for over 20 minutes from our house to the station, she didn't complain about the distance from Kyoto Station to the destination, and when we finally arrived and she was engrossed in the fish and jellyfish at the aquarium, if she's then urged to go to the next tank faster, of course she's going to snap. It reminds me of a hellish packed tour.


"The dolphin show is on."
"There's a feeding time after that too!"
While we mother and daughter were checking the timetable while taking breaks and getting excited about whether or not to buy a stuffed animal, our family shark apparently finally fell into oxygen deprivation.

When I suddenly noticed, he had secretly disappeared, and when I called him, he had already escaped from the aquarium. Even though he's a shark.

"I'm going to go check out a temple for a bit."
You're a free spirit, you migratory fish.

In contrast, my daughter didn't complain about it at all,
"Mom! Which one are we going to see next?" she said, actually starting to enjoy the aquarium to the fullest.
She watched the dolphin show twice and even enjoyed the splashes from the dolphins.
She spent about 20 minutes agonizing over whether to use her saved-up New Year's money to buy a stuffed animal she really wanted (3,300 yen) or to hold back. Although I thought to myself, 'That's expensive!!', I talked to her about how to spend money wisely, and I got to have all to myself the super-duper cute expression on her face as she hugged the large jellyfish plushie she ultimately bought with her own money.

Hey, husband...!

In exchange for gaining a healthy body through walking, you're losing something important!!

You shouldn't be looking for a purpose in 10,000 steps.
Don't think, feel.
What you're missing out on right now is my daughter's curiosity, the look in her eyes as she chooses what she loves, and her sense of satisfaction.
Those are fleeting expressions that she will only show me right now.
There are moments more precious than 10,000 steps packed into this day.
It's perfectly fine to have a day with only 2,000 steps.
There is also health to be nurtured on days spent just enjoying leisurely observation.
(By the way, I had exceeded 20,000 steps on this day.)

Do you like walking?

The changing of the seasons, the scent of flowers, the dance of insects on the embankment where they've started cutting the grass.
The flow of the clouds, the whisper of the wind brushing through my hair, and I wonder if what touches my fingertips is the sound of birds courting.

Everyone has their own reasons for walking.
Please, cherish the act of feeling.
Because the chirping of my daughter might not be something I can hear forever.

…Did I tell my husband that?
I certainly bragged about it, but whether he can grasp the meaning is up to him.
Heh heh heh. There's no way he's that sensitive.