As a family physician, I explore the HEART of HEALTH in my work, recreation, community, and through writing. My blog, Watercress Words, informs and inspires us to live in health. I believe we can turn our health challenges into healthy opportunities. When we do, we can share the HEART of health with our families, communities, and the world. Come explore and share with me.
In today’s world, managing stress is crucial. Regular physical activity, like walking, plays a key role in mental well-being. Walking is easy, safe, low-cost, and suitable for all ages, improving heart health. Incorporating it into daily routines enhances fitness and reduces anxiety, promoting a healthier lifestyle for everyone.
updated September 21, 2025
I published this post during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, in 2025 we have new stressors to deal with. Fortunately, stress managementt techniques work in many different situations, like regular physical activity.
Coping with stress by walking
We’re all struggling to cope with the stress of upended lives, risk of a new and menacing illness, economic instability, and an unpredictable future. Most of us are actively pursuing ways to take care of our bodies and minds so the stress doesn’t overwhelm us.
The Mayo Clinic reminds us that physical activity is one key way to do that.
Regular physical activity and exercise can help reduce anxiety and improve mood. Find an activity that includes movement, such as dance or exercise apps. Get outside, such as a nature trail or your own backyard.
Let’s go walking
I’ve had to adjust my activity routine since my dance studio is closed, as well as the recreation center, which I had just joined prior to the physical distancing protocol started.
I already liked to walk, so I have increased that to almost daily. I have a treadmill that I can use when the weather is not so nice, but I prefer to walk outside.
So in this post I’m going to share some photos from my walking journeys with reminders about the benefits of walking.
Multiple signs at the park reminded us to stay 6 feet apart, and everyone did.
Walking may be the best exercise
The best type of exercise is one that you will do regularly. Walking is considered one of the best choices because it’s easy, safe, and inexpensive.
Brisk walking can burn as many calories as running, but it is less likely to cause injuries than running or jogging. Walking doesn’t require training or special equipment, except for appropriate shoes.
Walking is an aerobic and weight-bearing exercise, which is beneficial for your heart and helps prevent osteoporosis.
February is American Heart Month, highlighting heart health amidst Valentine’s Day. In this post I outline seven major types of heart diseases and risk factors such as smoking and hypertension. Recognizing heart problem symptoms is crucial. Maintaining heart health involves addressing risk factors with healthy lifestyle choices. Share this vital information.
As we get older we may be tempted to walk less. But movement becomes even more import with advanced age.
People age 65 and older should get at least 2.5 hours of moderate aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking) every week. That averages out to about 30 minutes on most days of the week.
This rocker looked inviting but I kept walking.
Low-impact activities such as walking, biking, or swimming generally go easy on your joints.
One day I biked instead of walked; a little harder to take photos though.
How to include physical activity in your daily routine.
Park the car farther away at work or stores.
Get off the bus one stop earlier and walk the rest of the way.
Walk to do errands.
The mail carrier was also out walking, part of his daily routine for sure.
Get going and keep going
Everyone can benefit from physical activity. For most people, it is possible to begin exercising on your own at a slow pace.
If you have never exercised before, start with a 10-minute period of light exercise. A brisk walk every day is a good first exercise.
Slowly increase how hard you exercise and for how long.
You can walk outdoors, at home on a treadmill, alone, or with friends and family.
Make it fun. Listen to music or books on tape while you walk or jog. Watch TV or a video while you exercise.
The HEART of walking
Aerobic exercise causes you to breathe more deeply. It makes your heart work harder to pump blood. Aerobic exercise also raises your heart rate (which burns calories).
Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, jogging, running, dancing, swimming, and bicycling.
I posted this photo on Facebook and someone commented that it is shaped like a heart. What do you think?
This sign was on the fence at a soccer field, where it’s good advice.
But in life, I think if we “climb on our goals”, we’ll be more likely to reach them
Sometimes “goals” do fall over, hopefully not causing serious injury or death, but disappointment and discouragement.
If your goals fail, climb back and try again. Just not on the soccer field, please.
Coach’s Corner: Evaluate your fitness goals
As you consider your fitness, where are you compared to where you want to be?
What is keeping you from the fitness level you need and want?
What do you need to do to get you to the next level? When will you start?
The fitness advice in this post was taken from FamilyDoctor.org, the patient information site sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians, of which I am a member. Please visit the site for more advice about exercise, fitness, and other health concerns.
Exploring the HEART of fitness
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This post shares a personal journey of unexpected love, marriage, and struggles stemming from unrecognized PTSD. It delves into the transformative power of reconciliation and healing trips to Vietnam, ultimately bringing hope and joy. Through various life-changing encounters, the couple’s story exemplifies the impact of powerful, unforeseen words and encounters.
updated July 10, 2024
I’ve shared this post several times, and every time I’ve heard from someone, usually unexpected, who tells me the story speaks to them similarly. I didn’t know their story before, but learning we share a similar bond brought new meaning to our relationship.
We may not know your story, but if yours is similar, we understand, care, and hope our story inspires you and helps you find “your missing peace”.
Here we are on a cruise.
Two Words That Changed My Life
In college, I participated in Chi Alpha, a faith-based student group. When I started dating a young man of a different faith, he enjoyed coming to the gatherings with me and my friends liked him. We were fond of each other, but his feelings grew stronger and more serious than mine.
To be fair, I ended the relationship. We parted amicably but he left our group; it was awkward for both of us. Although the breakup was the best of us both, I grieved the loss of our friendship.
One evening several of us were talking when a new member joined us. We knew little about him other than he had recently left the Army and started attending the university.
He looked at me and said, “Where is John tonight?” (not his real name) No one spoke as everyone looked from me to him and back to me. Apparently, he was the only one who didn’t know we had broken up.
Finally, one of the girls softly explained, “They aren’t dating anymore.”
Everyone remained silent, I suppose assuming I was upset. I wasn’t upset but I realized everyone else was uncomfortable. I didn’t want our new friend to feel bad about the mistake, so I tried to make light of it. I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head.
“That’s right,” I said smiling. “I’m available.”
With that, everyone, including me, laughed. Thinking back now, I wonder why I said that. It was out of character for me, a confirmed introvert, and besides, I did not need or want another romantic relationship. I was planning to attend medical school, and romance did not fit into that plan.
However, the young man took me seriously, calling me a few days later to ask for a date. And despite my reluctance to become involved, I said yes.
“What harm could it do?” I thought. “Why sit in the dorm alone on Friday night?”
Two more words
That night I learned about Raymond’s past. He had served for three years in the Army. He had already earned a bachelor’s degree and was working on a master’s degree with his veteran’s benefits. I casually asked if he had been stationed overseas. He said yes- he had served in Germany and in Vietnam. I did not realize those words also would change my life.
various scenes from the firebase where Raymond was stationed in VietNam; I understood nothing about what happened there.
This was 1972 and the American war in Vietnam was raging. The United States government needed soldiers to carry out the engagement and was drafting them, which they and their families dreaded. The war was unpopular and divided our country. We watched the course of the conflict nightly on television news (no Internet or social media then).
Raymond was the first person I knew personally who had served in Vietnam. Service members and veterans of that war were portrayed in the media as fighting an unnecessary, unjustified war at best and as baby killers at worst.
Today military service members and veterans are honored and considered heroes. Today’s veterans feel proud of what they do; far too often those who served in Vietnam did not.
The reading room of the library looks the same as it did 40 years ago.
Over dates at football games, church, social events, and study times our feelings for each other grew from friendship to love. He asked me to marry him a few weeks later. We married about 2 years later, as he completed his master’s degree.
Soon after our wedding I started medical school, graduated, and joined a medical practice. He pursued a career in the Information Technology industry. We raised two sons, traveled, and attended church.
Expectation-“happily ever after”
But our “happily ever after” did not match reality.
Our marriage was often tense, unsatisfying, and distant and we did not understand why. We could not communicate well. He felt I was demanding and controlling. I felt he was insensitive and selfish.
We had to look to the past to find the reason for the pain in our present.
one of many family ski trips
Words that changed our lives- post-traumatic stress disorder
Military medicine now recognizes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a common result of service in combat; 40 years ago it was unrecognized and untreated. There were no support groups, counseling or rehabilitative services available.
My husband didn’t talk about his military service, so for years we both suffered the effects of unrecognized PTSD. By the mid-1980s veterans’ groups pushed to recognize and honor Vietnam veterans’ service and encouraged discussion about the psychic trauma many of them dealt with; and with that came opportunities for treatment and healing.
We always visit the traveling Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall when it comes to our area.
Words that changed Raymond’s life
Through counseling and a support group, my husband faced the past and started to move forward. After reading a book, A Missing Peace, written by another Vietnam veteran, he considered taking a trip back to Vietnam and after much thought and prayer, signed up, although we were both apprehensive.
He chose to travel with Vets with a Mission, VWAM, a faith-based non-profit organization whose mission was “reconciliation” between former enemies in the Vietnam War, and also within the veterans themselves. (VWAM is now inactive. A partner organization, Medical Outreach of America, does similar work in Vietnam. )
Raymond began moving past the painful memories and creating a new history by touring the country and meeting Vietnamese people in peacetime. He found a country still suffering from the aftereffects of many years of war, and found a new purpose for his life- to help the country that had caused us so much pain.
Raymond making friends and having fun with some Vietnamese boys
That trip led to another – thirteen trips serving on volunteer teams to Vietnam with VWAM. He served by teaching computer technology he spent years learning and mentoring Vietnamese professionals as they developed skills like his.
I accompanied him on many of these trips, serving as a physician on medical teams, and treating poor Vietnamese citizens in free clinics. We made friends with other veterans and their families, and with Vietnamese people, who often respected American Vietnam veterans more than Americans do.
Raymond found “reconciliation” for himself and we experienced it in our marriage. It was a process and still is.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”
1 Corinthians 5:18, motto of VWAM
visiting an old war bunker on China Beach
More words that changed my life
As a pre-teen, I read a book about an American doctor who treated poor people in a foreign country. This and other books sparked my interest in health care and I decided to become a doctor. I dreamed of someday traveling overseas and treating people like he and other doctors did.
I didn’t remember anything about him except his name. I did an Internet search and found his story- Dr. Tom Dooley. Now deceased, he had served as a physician in the United States Navy and in the 1950s was assigned to direct the care of refugees- in Vietnam. (After his military service, he founded a humanitarian organization and tragically died young of melanoma.)
When I watched the war in Vietnam on TV news, I didn’t realize the doctor I had read about had worked there. I never imagined that I would ever go there.
And I never imagined that war would help me meet my husband, and create a family that brings me joy every day.
When I said, “I’m available” I had no idea how true that would be.
And I never expected us to do a ballroom dance routine for an audience!
Words that changed Raymond’s life
Raymond researched and wrote about a little-known battle of the Vietnam War. His is an eyewitness account of the events and aftermath of the Battle for TraBong Vietnam.
Fire Support Base (FSB)/Landing Zone (LZ) Cindy was established in 1968 by being relocated from Tam Ky, Vietnam. By 1970, the FSB was considered a “model” for other FSBs in South Vietnam.
The base operated on the high ground of the Happy Valley with an Observation Post (OP) Searchlight (SLT) unit that provided illumination at night for the entire valley. Next to the FSB was an Armed Forces Vietnam (ARVN) unit of 100 men. Besides the helicopter landing zone, we had the shortest airstrip in Vietnam managed by a Military Air Command Vietnam (MACV) unit. The Tra Bong village was between MACV and FSB/LZ Cindy.
The firebase had tremendous firepower with automatic weapons, 50-caliber and 60-caliber machine guns to include a Quad 50, Dusters, 8 inch and 175 howitzers, mortars, grenades, claymores, flares, etc. In the year 1970, FSB Cindy had zero Wounded in Action (WIA) or Killed in Action (KIA) men by enemy forces. Also, the North Vietnamese (NVA) did not penetrate our perimeter because our unit operated as a team.
A Battery remained at FSB/LZ Cindy (BS342882) providing general support to both US and ARVN units. On 16 September 1971, A Battery was moved to Chu Lai to begin stand-down activities.
During Christmas of 1971, the ARVN camp was overrun by NVA/VC and wiped out.
The firebase did have a major battle in September 1970. That battle and how it impacted the war in general and one soldier’s life specifically is the subject of this book.
We who served on LZ Cindy in 1969 and after when the unit left in 1971 did a job that had to be done to save more lives than were taken by the enemy. All of us were there because we were asked or drafted to serve this country and help the people of Vietnam survive.
Those of us who did the job on LZ Cindy did the best we could to survive and help those who served with us. It is unfortunate that some of those did not survive, but in war people die, and there is nothing we can do about it.
“The gripping account of the author’s experiences with “a war without closure” as a Marine aviator and as head of a relief agency ministering in that country. Through his own search for personal and national reconciliation, he shows us the only way to find real closure and genuine healing.” AMAZON
sharing the HEART of marriage
Thanks for taking the time to read our story, we are honored you did. If you know someone who might benefit from reading it, please share by email or social media, or even just tell them.
I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.
Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.
I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.
watercress words by Dr Aletha 