- cross-posted to:
- france@jlai.lu
- cross-posted to:
- france@jlai.lu
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Yup, walking everywhere when I briefly lived in Europe was huge for me, both for my physical and mental health.
I really miss having a reason to walk all day, like when I was in university. Now I work from home, and while I can walk around the block of whatever, it just isn’t nearly the same.
Another option is to install StreetComplete on your phone and do something useful for society while on a walk
Ngl I like this idea. I highly doubt there’s much around me worth noting, but I’ll absolutely check it out and do what I can.
The things around me have all been stuff like “what material is the power pole made out of?” “What is the road surface on ____ street?” “What are the restrictions on parking here?” Etc. but there is an advanced mode you can use which unlocks harder questions that less people answer
Oh interesting, I kinda dig that.
If you’re having fun with it and wanna go deeper, there is also StreetCompleteExtendedEdition (SCEE) and Vespucci
That app looks awesome, thanks
Get yourself into photography. You don’t need anything expensive, if you have a phone camera, that will do.
Document the strange and interesting things in your environment. The people, the architecture.
It gets you out of the house a mission per day. It gives you a goal.
Honestly, the idea of adding another hobby to my Jenga tower of hobbies is a bit scary, but you aren’t wrong that it would get me out more. Might be worth a shot (pun intended).
Genuinely, if it helps you feel better, you are always welcome to share your photos with me and tell me about them.
I WFH a couple of days per week and living in a 15 minute walkable city is wonderful for walks compared to when I lived in the suburbs. But that’s me and having an endless amount of actual stuff to walk to compared to an endless sea of cookie cutter houses and grass is my idea of heaven vs hell, in that order.
The same for me. Although I could and would game in the dorm as much as I liked, I’d have pretty regular evening walks with friends over 2 hours with sitting for a bit on good places around the campus. On top of regular school stuff that’d amount to 4k-5k steps, these walks would add 5k-8k more on top, sometimes totalling 20k and not a single step or minute would be boring or hard to find motivation for.
A nice walk helps you gather your thoughts
I can recommend GPS games like pokemon go or Jurassic World Alive. Gives you some motivation and entertainment to walk once you get into it.
Someone else recommended StreetComplete, which I’ll definitely be checking out.
Loved playing Pokémon Go, but honestly it’s not as fun now that my friends don’t play, sadly.
Look up your lcoal pokemon community on Campfire I met a ton of people through there, had many fun meetings over the years
people giving you reasons here to leave the house - amateurs, just install an under desk treadmill
That’s even more depressing than “walk around the block”
hell yeah! That’ll show that sun punk who’s boss.
That’s the purpose of this sub, right?
What’s wrong with walking around the block?
I’ve considered this, I do have a standing desk already. I agree it feels a bit depressing though haha.
Rescue a dog, my guy.
I have a dog, and we walk around the block(s), but it’s boring. When I can, I drive my dog down to the forest paths for a walk, but that’s like, a whole event.
I guess there’s not much green space near where you live. That sucks. But on the plus side, you’re getting out every day thanks to your dog, at least!
Why? Is one in trouble?
Always
Get a dog, if you can’t then dedicate an hour or two to walking, make it an obligation.
I WFH and walk 5 to 10km a day… If you had the time to do it before and don’t have more obligations than before then it’s on you if you don’t do it anymore…
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a good alternative is walking other people’s dogs, then you can earn money too!
A life shared.
Indeed, hence the “if your can’t” part
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Already have one. I guess I’m including that when I say “walking around the block.” Like, I do it, but it’s boring and feels like a chore.
Honestly, maybe I’m just spoiled because until recently I lived next to a park with a lake that I loved taking my pupper around.
Well, don’t limit yourself to going around the block! We’ve got a 10lbs dog and he’s unstoppable, he could walk around the city for hours if we let him. Pop some earphones in, listen to a podcast about something that interests you and go!
It’s not like going around a lake, but that’s something you can do on weekends :)
I found excuses for myself to walk and it’s made a difference. YMMV depending on what’s around you, but like my friend and I walk to a nearby coffee shop for our lunch dates, and I’ve got a decent walk to get to the gym, which impacts how my legs/back feel hugely.
Even just walking to a corner store to get a sparkling juice or whatever is nice.
You got anything like that where you’re at?
I used to do that but using eating out as an excuse to walk ends with me spending a lot more money on eating out than I should.
I do have a few things within walking distance, but it’s like, a gas station and a restaurant. I do walk to those when I need to, but I try not to go off I can help it, just to save money. (That’s another frustration - that every reason to get out costs money.)
Sadly, there’s a grocery store just outside “walking range” of my house. The last place I lived, I loved walking to the store every day for fresh groceries, but here it just isn’t feasible.
Fortunately I should be moving soon, though, and this is all definitely going to be in mind when we choose a place.
Damn is that the suburbs? Yeah, try to find a place with more walkable/bikeable amenities if you can, for your next place.
The only other thing I can think of is try finding a bench a ways off to read on, or just listen to audio books or something
Complaining about things over a two hour lunch break *with a glass of wine
Sorted that for you
Works without wine too.
But works with wine and without lunch as well.
It has to be in a parisian restaurant otherwise its only sparkly debate.
Sparkling*
But not without whine.
It’s France, that’s non-negotiable.
A lot of people reckon the small glass of wine is necessary to help digest the ridiculously fatty food without absorbing the fat
See the French Paradox
As far as I know there isn’t any scenario where drinking wine is healthy and I say that as a french guy. Alcool being healthy or good overall for your health is a myth no matter the amount. You might gain some on some aspect but overall it will never be better than good food and a glass of water.
Yes, this is boring but science is pretty clear about it and we obviously had this debate many times here.
Just because we make a lot of quality wine and good food doesn’t make everything healthy.
I think a long time ago kids were getting a bit of wine at school lunch so we are not an example here. We have a wine lobby that tried very hard to reinforce the idea that a “little glass” of wine is good and that without excess it’s fine. Truthfully no amount of alcool is healthy. I still drink a beer here and there but alcool will never be healthy and I know it.
I’d say that, in reference to small amounts, there’s a difference between “bad for you” and “won’t actually harm you” but I’m not going to argue with your point
I’d put it as “you won’t actually perceive the damage”
Exactly. Even drinking a ml of alcool will hurt you it’s just that the damage is so small you can’t measure it.
Nah, alcohol is literally poison.
The drunkenness you feel is just your body reacting to being poisoned.
Being a Group 1 carcinogen, let’s analyze it with other carcinogens in the same group: is there such a thing as “won’t actually harm you” amounts of asbestos? What about “won’t actually harm you” exposure to ionizing radiation?
We don’t know which DNA damage will turn into cancer, but each exposure to a group 1 carcinogen is another lotto ticket bought to see if you won cancer. You will never buy a lotto ticket that doesn’t have a chance of winning.
ETA and then there’s the non-cancer effects that just increase cardiac problems and stroke risk.
It was not before 1956 that schools stopped giving wine to kids under 14.
1956 : Interdiction de l’alcool dans les cantines scolaires | L’oeil de l’INA
Alcohol is bad for your body, but you don’t care about it when you are drunk.
I know this is a joke, but also I want to see how she is in 6 months. An interruption to your current monotony could be all it takes - once you settle back into routine, will you still be fixed?
Lots of walking to and from places throughout your day is super good for your physical and mental health, all else being equal. Afterall, we’re descended from nomads.
There’s a balance to be struck, I think most people myself included would benefit from more walking and standing but I remember reading that a study showed people who are on their feet all the time for work had more joint problems. Which isn’t surprising.
For sure, for sure. Neither extreme is good for you.
i would imagine it peters off after a while, hence why we have vacations.
You guys have vacations?
Of course, because a happy worker is a more productive worker.
Corporate America: “Why go through the trouble of keeping workers happy when we have such an abundance of drones for the meat grinder?”
Nah, travel is a sin imho
Yeah but France also has way more vacations.
A good thing about walking is that there are so many more possible routes than with driving so the monotony can continually be remediated.
And since it’s personable, unlike sitting in a car alone, each walk could automatically be novel.
I would argue the monotony may take much longer than before to appear.
Even walking the same route is enjoyable. You get to notice the small things - moonrise, birds, people walking the same or opposite way each day
I’m 30 km from my workplace so I cycle, and have a choice of about three paths. When I travel at the same time, same way, I see the same people walking their dogs, jogging, cycling (passing me; me passing them)
It’s the shallowest acquaintance, but still nice
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She should go to Spain and take a nap after complaining during lunch. You reach a next level of consciousness
There are better places than Paris for hiking…
Paris is a lovely walk-able city, though.
Too bad there are so many French people
Parisians, specifically. Paris isn’t all of France.
Literally the only drawback
Too bad there are so many French people
There are a bunch of right-wingers out there that would tell you (((they))) are working on that. That’s basically the heart of the whole “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory and I’ve seen a few specifically point to Paris as an example of it in action.
That’s completely subjective.
Depends on what you want to get out of your hike. Want historic sites and a café? Go hike an old city. Want mosquitos and beautiful open vistas? Go hike a mountain trail.
Well, i’m swiss and hiking is something you do on mountains to me. Visiting a city is taking a stroll.
Well, if you insist on technicality:
a long walk, especially in the country or wilderness:
So a long walk in an urban environment also qualifies. However, I agree that “hike” more commonly means a rural excursion.
That’s not hiking, that just happens in a day
Paris really is beautiful, I have seen many places as nice in Europe, but Paris stands out
Does that 2 hours come out of your work day or do you have still stay 2 hours later? I don’t even use my 1 hour lunch break because not using it let’s me get off earlier.
Depends on your job, and what it’s being offset against. Some workplaces care more about your work that your office hours. OTOH some workplaces are run by psychotic control freaks who’ve forgotten what the point is 🤷
Sometimes the point of a job is to be in a certain place at a certain time, so job places requiring you to follow the clock makes sense in a lot of cases.
If your job is to make at least 25 “thingies”, and you make 25, you should be able to go home.
Back when I worked a job with a target (25 work items in this case) it would have been reasonably cheap for them to massively increase productivity by doing that
Finish the day’s work and go home
Instead they demanded 25 work items, gave us enough work to deliver around 15 each and wanted us on site regardless of whether work was done
Yeah that’s a good point actually, although in those cases you usually can’t pull a 2 hour lunch
Doesn’t come out of your hours so yes in practice you finish later and/or start earlier.
F that. I guess it’s nice if you need to go to a doctor or something but no way as a standard thing.
Yeah it’s pretty shit tbh, but also total weekly is 35h max, tons of vacations, etc etc etc. Also very dependant by workplace, depends if the boss is modern or old school, etc. Some people definitely enjoy the long mid-day break, also realistically if the bossman takes you out and orders a bunch of wine, expectations for the afternoon are gonna be low…
Also shit gets weird when you start going south, shops will close from 12:00 to 16:00, morning open at 10/11, it’s maniana maniana. Overall I would rate France not the best country to work in but it’s mostly because you then have to deal with not only French people but also French administration, and F that. Overall work conditions and benefits are good (salaries not so much). I personally GTFO of there and much enjoyed the faster pace where I live now but I’m kinda getting over it and the slower rhythm sounds more tempting now.
Moving out of Paris actually did wonders to my mental health. Worst city to live in in my opinion.
The question would be how did she get hired haha
