Walk with a Doc Newsletter
Good morning! Yesterday, we received a fictional letter from a man in New Hampshire (we could tell it was fake because we don’t have a chapter in NH). It started like this:
Dear Rachel, David, and Bryan (he spelled Rachael’s name differently) –
My name is Mike and I live in Vermont. I saw your stuff on CNN and wanted to reach out to you. I think that I am
addicted to looking at screens (phone, computer, TV, etc.). Last Friday, I went as far as telling my family that I had finally made the decision. I was going to enter inpatient rehab for 14 days. I packed my largest suitcase (no iPad!) and headed out. I soon found out they don’t “rehab” that and I came back inside and back up to the bedroom to unpack. My wife, Sandra, came upstairs and said, “Hey Mike. Why don’t you start ‘unplugging’ by going to Walk with a Doc – Manchester (doesn’t exist) tomorrow? I meet Suzanne there every week and we have a great time. We have coffee, listen to the doctor, and make our way onto the trail. Before we know it, we’ve covered
6-8000 steps; David says being in
nature has additional benefits to walking. They call it ecotherapy. Plus, the doctor’s really funny and nice – her name is Michelle.”
Sandy’s kinda my boss, so I listened to her. Last Saturday, I called my fishing buddy Ryan (we pretend fish on the Xbox One). That morning instead of sitting on the couch we headed out to WWAD Manchester – it was easy to find (how is that… because there ISN’T one!). We don’t do a whole lot of walking, so we were a little nervous. Everyone was real nice though – felt like a little family of supporters. Unfortunately, the talk that morning was on “The Top 10 Health Apps for your Cellphone”.
Bad timing.
Ryan and I had a couple (shhhh!) cups of coffee
(why are you shushing me, coffee is good for you) and headed out onto Dr. Michelle’s favorite trail – the Doppelganger. Sandy was right – we were talking about squirrels, rap videos, and almond butter and the next thing I knew – BAM – 6,734 steps! It wasn’t only that my WWAD pedometer read such a great number (at 9:15 am to boot!) but I knew I was
adding 7 quality years onto my life (2,555 days). Dr. David, you talk about walking eliminating heart disease and cancer and Alzheimer’s – I have family members with those things and I hate them!
The diseases, not the family members! Whoa, that was close.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the DoppelGanger – I felt good all day. In addition, it was a nice fringe benefit to know I really cut my risk for those diseases.
Ryan has hemorrhoids, I don’t think walking helps that
does it? (walking helps just about everything my friend).
Well, this has been nice and just wanted to tell you that we all love you here in New Hampshire (
WE ARE NOT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE!!!) Please stop in for some cider doughnuts if you’re ever visiting one of your chapters. Oops! Sorry, doc.
Stay Stupid and Stay Classy – or whatever you say.
Mike
