Walking is good for the heart...

Since I was diagnosed a few years ago with hypertension, I vowed to myself that I was going to get better, as in get back to normal blood pressure range which according to the American Health association is less than 120 millimeters mercury systolic and below 80 millimeters diastolic.

Right now, I am down to one prescription hypertension medication and a few herbal supplements -- garlic oil and fish oil -- and since my trip to the ER in 2013, no more ER visits, just regular checks with my cardio. My blood pressure has been steady at 100/70 since.

What has helped really is walking.

I have walked more miles than I can count in the last four years. Though weight loss has been really difficult especially since I had two babies through C-section; my age and my hormones perhaps has been making it harder to lose the extra poundage, but not without success though, I have lost some, though small. From 185 pounds, I have made it to 160 pounds, still 40 pounds overweight. What makes my walking successful is that I have managed to keep myself active, albeit my work without the extra expense of gym membership or exercise equipment.

Goal right now is to lose the extra 40 pounds, slowly but surely.

I am not much of a dancer, I have to admit, I have two left feet. I gave up on Zumba because I can't follow the steps. I don't really like spending extra money for gym membership. Hence, the most economical and easiest way I could get my much needed activity is when I found out I could actually just walk and burn some calories. Of course, now I have also given up eating pork and a few other modifications on diet.

But I have been walking alone in the house for almost four years now, and sometimes it gets boring. Music helps, but it can sometimes become a routine that I need to finish only about six to seven full songs of my favorite boy band or singer and I know I have completed my 6,000 to 10,000-step goal.

But today, I decided to go take a walk with my friends. A 5-kilometer walk around through the tree-lined roads of the city where I was born. The air was cool. The sun not beating on us. Not a lot of cars passing through. It was a good walk. Not because I completed my step goal and my one-hour daily active time requirement, but because I was able to rant, laugh, jabber, gush and tattle with them. It had been years since I had this much fun. And no, we did not talk about other people, we mostly talked about us. How we had been, where we were and where life seems to be taking us.

Each of us needed that time to just have someone to talk to. Hungry for attention, perhaps even for the vouch of support and encouragement. More than ever, these walks are good for the heart, literally and metaphorically.

It got me thinking that despite life's challenges, there are those I can still talk to and have long walks with, not getting tired of living, not getting tired of trudging on through life. We cannot give up on our dreams just because of one stumble or two, or three, or four, or five. We just have to keep standing up and pushing one more step, one foot at a time.

They say, life is a race and hence, we have to keep running. I disagree. Life is not a race. It is to be enjoyed one step at a time. If we keep running, we miss out on the beautiful things we pass by and we become unable to appreciate what is good and what is amazing. Often, by running, we get tired, impassioned and in pain.

So, every Sunday now, we've made it a habit. To walk for our hearts, literally and metaphorically.

Though my feet hurts, my legs throbbing - my heart is full.

(photos are my own).