Steve Job (Apple founder) and Albert Einstein took walks to help them work through problems. Albert Einstein also played the violin to help tackle scientific queries. Is there a physical activity that you do to help you work out things in your mind? If there isn’t what physical activity would you do to help sort things out?

I don’t do nearly as much walking or exercise as I used to. My excuse is that I walk a lot every day around my classroom as part of my job. For example, according to my iPhone/watch today I walked 5,927 steps and have averaged about 5,000 steps over the past year. Alas, I do all the walking Monday through Friday but spend Saturday and Sunday on my butt. My physical therapist brother previously suggested that I should take a brisk walk just before going to bed because it does wonders for my overnight blood-sugar/a1c count. Come to think of it, I did most of my walking when I was living in Florida and my job did not involve any walking around a classroom. So I spent many an afternoon walking around local parks and even set up a treadmill with a place for my laptop so that I could grade student work while walking. But this prompt was not so much about maintaining ones health through exercise as much as the function of exercise to help mental (and emotional) challenges.

Right after I got laid off from my job in Florida I spent many hours walking to get out of the house and to get out of my own head. So, I definitely resorted to physical exercise to work through the emotional challenges of being unemployed. It’s probably a good habit that I should rejoin as I contemplate the challenges of my transition from teaching at Cashman to whatever is coming next. I just did the calculation today and counting tomorrow there are only 45-teaching days left until the end of this school year/end of my career at Cashman. I should probably order that treadmill soon. 

What exercise routine are you doing to help you work through “issues”?