focusing on the destination, not the journey
ive been in lisbon, portugal for week now and in response to my parents' question of "how have you been liking it?", i have to say that it has been lovely. i often dote upon seaside cities being the best kind of cities, and lisbon has somewhat of a cute companionship to montenegro, so i haven't been feeling completely foreign. the salted air, the long pier, the vertical inclines and ceramic tiled roofs, it feels oddly familiar.
have grown up as a fat kid and doing sports most of my childhood, i grew up with objectively strong legs. now that im in a new location though, ive been missing my walks in toronto. i averaged around twenty three thousand steps for the past week, which puts me in the one percent of walkers. in toronto, i tend to fourteen or fifteen thouhsand steps, which is light work considering the flat landscape the routine ive established back home. i also broke my all time revord with thirty one thousand steps the day on thursday.
it feels like walking is harder when i dont have a destination. sure i can mindlessly wander around lisbon and explore, but theres something nice about walking with a destination in mind. knowing that i only need to walk twenty minutes to get a coffee at second cup is a greater motivator than spending an hour walking on the per chance that i might stumble onto something interesting. for all my love of the journey, walking with a destination in mind is preferred.
even though i walk a lot in comparison to others, my legs have been killing me. i had a calf spasm two nights ago which has made it oddly painful to put weight on my left leg and sleeping on it uncomfortable. ive been taking my magnesium tablets nightly so that all this walking doesnt render me immobile, but i still feel aching.
ive been eating like a rat at times. i dont enjoy sitting down in places to eat, and rather have been enjoying grabbing food to go and sitting down in public parks to eat. theres more merit in grabbing a small snack on your way to somewhere rather than sitting in a restaurant and having to awkwardly order in broken portuguese. waking up sick in the morning leads to me not eating until around lunch time and by then ive afforded myself a few natas (portuguese egg tart pastry) with all the walking ive done. suprisingly i needed to poke another hole in my belt. this is the second time ive had to do that since the summer.
i am currently on the train to porto writing this. i dont have much else to say, i just wanted to type out something while i still remembered to. enjoy these kitties i saw.