Thanks to the Beach Workers who Support our Community

This morning as I walked along the beach, I realized that after a couple of days of missing this exercise I was experiencing some difficulty keeping my usual pace and  was scolding myself for not being more faithful to this daily practice. I looked up to see  a familiar figure, one of the workers on the beach at this early hour and, as always, marveled at his strong physique. Omar was carrying two full pails of ocean water from the waterfront to the sandy areas of the beach restaurants, a feat that his well-developed muscles allowed. I knew from seeing him work daily that he would repeat this several times before he was satisfied that there was no more need to dampen down the sand in front of the restaurants and in their seating areas.

Omar is one of the beach workers to whom we community members owe a debt of gratitude. These workers maintain the cleanliness of the beach environment for our use. They support the business owners by keeping the restaurant fronts clean and attractive as well as the seating areas.

Because I am a regular walker at an early hour, I know most of the workers. I always take a moment to greet each one by name, to ask how they are, and to wish them a good day. I feel that by doing so I am giving recognition. I feel good with the exchange and, in turn, their response gives me a very positive start to my day.

I began to think about how Omar and the other beach workers support their physical fitness just by doing their work.  And then of course, as aIways, I asked myself, “What can I learn from this?”

So I then considered that incorporating this attitude into my own daily routines could benefit my physical fitness. By using more movement through the day doing normal activities could be a way to keep up muscle tone. 

For example, the steps I take going from room to room in my home, do I try to save myself trips to and from, when not doing so could increase my physical effort and support better all-round fitness in my own body.

I am lucky that I live in a community in which I can walk to the beach, to the corner store, to a restaurant, whenever I want to do so.

Elsewhere in the world walkable communities are being designed and built to encourage more physical fitness and well-being through daily movement such as walking, cycling, and running.   

Walkable communities can do even more than enable people to be more active. They can foster more friendliness. They support planet friendly efforts by reducing automobile traffic and therefore less air pollution.

Here is an interesting article that addresses the need for communities to be more walkable, and demonstrates how they can be.

https://www.bluezones.com/2020/05/what-is-walkability

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