2. Walk

This guy is walking a dinosaur. Some people have dogs to take for walks. But for those of us who don’t (or those of us who wish we did but live in teeny apartments that barely fit 2 people and would certainly not fit a dog as well), we should walk anyway.

You can take the stairs instead of the elevator at work (if you work on a reasonably low floor, clearly. Don’t go nuts), or get off the subway one stop early and walk the rest of the way to work. I actually did this yesterday morning. I learned a couple things. 1. If you’re going to get off the subway early, do it on a day you’re wearing comfortable shoes. 2. My purse is effing heavy.

Note: If you don’t live in a big city where walking is often a reasonable option that doesn’t mean you should skip this one. Walk 10 or 15 minutes down the road and then turn around and come back. You can do it while you’re talking on the phone to someone instead of sitting on the couch. That way you're just fitting it into your life.

Remember, walking is good for you.

1. Water

Seriously. Drink water.

By the time you start to feel thirsty you are already slightly dehydrated. So drink water. Keep a water bottle on your desk. Refill it every time you are bored, or need a break, or its empty.

Times to drink water:
Whenever you eat.
Before and after (and during) exercise.
Definitely when you're drinking alcohol.

It doesn't take a lot of time and its easy to fit into your routine. And if the Mayo Clinic says to do it then its probably a good idea.

Cake for dinner

I remember very clearly the moment I realized I could have cake for dinner. Helen and I were walking through the west village and she pointed it out to me. "You know what's wonderful about being a grown-up? You can eat cake for dinner if you want." Amazing! and absolutely correct. She had, in fact has cake for dinner just the night before. And it was awesome.

The thing about cake for dinner, is that it represents the good stuff and the bad stuff all at once. It represents independence and a belief in doing whatever makes you happy. Actually, thats pretty much all it represents. But if you were to eat cake for dinner every night, and you can if you want to when you're a grown-up and its kind of awesome, then that would represent an indifference to how all that cake might be affecting you down the road. Not that anyone eats cake every night. Maybe someone does. But the point is that sometimes we form habits in the interest of saving time, or having a good time, or because we feel indestructible. And those habits may actually be harming us.

Don't get me wrong. I am not against the principle of cake for dinner. That's not what this site is about. This site is about finding the balance in between cake for dinner every night, and no cake at all. Or, more generally, fitting wellness into your busy, crazy, hectic, fun life. Without drastically changing your way of life. Or becoming a health nut. Or even joining the gym (if you want to join the gym, though, thats cool too).

This site is for people who want to be a bit healthier than they are. Whether you work 100 hours a week, or spend every night out with your friends at the bars, or every night awake with the kids who just wont sleep, you dont have time to take care of you. Its just not the top priority. Here you will find tips and ideas - little things you can do to improve your mental and physical wellbeing. Nothing too time consuming, and you can take it or leave it. But hopefully over time, if you try these things out you'll notice that you feel more energetic, more positive, and maybe even feel like you have more time for doing the things you love.

One more thing I should note - I am just figuring all this stuff out for myself. So bear with me. I'll try everything I suggest. We'll see what happens...