• @paddirn
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    25 months ago

    A few years ago I started purposely parking as far away as possible at work, partly because I was tired of the whole dumb process of circling around looking for a good parking space and partly I was wanting to walk more. It’s been kind of liberating. Instead of trying to sift through a sea of cars to find that empty diamond space in the rough, I’m awash in empty spaces as far as the eye can see everywhere I go. At some places, it’s almost like I’ve gotten my own dedicated parking space.

    • Buglefingers
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      14 months ago

      There’s actually a term for this called N.E.A.T. (Non-exercising activity thermogenisis) which basically comes down to: Do the higher caloric burning option, walking further in the parking lot, taking the stairs. Basically moving more by being less efficient. The idea was small changes to increase calorie burn for weight loss. I’ve been doing it over 10 years and it’s greatly helped me with my parking too! I always park far away for this reason

      • @paddirn
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        14 months ago

        Yeah, I found out about that after I had started, thinking I had figured something out on my own. I was like, “Oh, I guess people already do this thing and it even has a name.” My approach to it has been to have regular routines that I rarely deviate from, almost as if it’s a responsibility or something I have to do. I try to take as much personal choice out of the matter, because I know otherwise I can rationalize excuses for not doing it (“You’ve already walked alot this week, you can take it easy…”).

        • Buglefingers
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          14 months ago

          You did figure it out yourself! Don’t discredit that. You may not have been the first but sometimes it feels good to know you came to the correct conclusion because others got to the same one as you. Like being unsure of a math answer until everyone else says they got the same thing haha