musings about touching grass
I spent this whole morning doing errands, which made me think about how much I enjoy going outside and how good it makes me feel.
I've mentioned in my about page that I work as a freelance translator. I create and translate subtitles for movies and TV shows. While it's a great job for someone who enjoys being by himself like I do, it makes me spend lots of hours at my home office. I get outside for less than 20 minutes on many days, which is a big no-no for my physical and mental health.
I've been making a few changes to touch some grass more often.1
I'm lucky enough to live five minutes away from a wonderful and typical (not yet gentrified) Portuguese bakery, so I start every morning with a walk to get fresh bread for the day. That also allows me to "check" the box for the daily outing/walking, which is a great motivation to do it every day!
This morning, I had a routine dental cleaning at 10:30, and I was meeting someone from Olio 2 at 12pm to give them a wig and a Golden Milk Spice Mix I didn't enjoy. I got out of the dentist office at 11am, so I ended up spending one hour reading in my Kobo at this wonderful kiosk and feeling the sun in my face, which felt extra nice since it was a chilly 12 °C outside (I live in Lisbon, so this is not that unusual for this time of the year). I found the coffee expensive (1€), but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, since it's a "touristy" area.
I was feeling so great about stretching my legs on such a beautiful day that I decided to swing by the hardware store. I need to paint a wall in the patio and my closet, but I had been procrastinating getting the supplies for it. Not anymore! Now I just need to wait for next week to do it (I swear I'm not procrastinating again! It's just because it will be raining for the next three days.)
On a more serious note, I do feel like getting outside makes me feel much better than spending all day sitting at the desk (no shit, Sherlock), and I want to do it every day, even if it's just for half an hour. I should get back to cycling more often, since that was what made me leave the house more often during the pandemic, and it became my main mean of transportation in the city.