One of the unique aspects of Happy Feet Walkers club is creating collages.

Several times we have been asked, why do you stress creating collages? What is the big deal? How is it supposed to help?

When Lakshmy and I started envisioning walking everyday, we wanted to have a log of our walks. Maintaining a dairy, yes sure, but not everyone is good at it. Then we thought about clicking pictures. But pictures that don’t tell the entire story would not go the entire distance. Then came the idea of creating picture collages that tell a story in very few words.

1. A picture of the walk scene: When we walk outdoors we come across so many beautiful sights, some capture our fancy more than others. Once captured in a collage, it is always there to relive the entire walk.
2. A screenshot of the map walked: Mapmywalk creates a beautiful map of the walk. In addition to capturing the distance, some beautiful pictures emerge from the map.
3. A selfie : This is the new rage, but there is strong reason behind it. Women most often feel self conscious. But guess what, each and every woman is beautiful. You just need to believe it. I believe! Looking at your own pictures over time can generate some healthy nostalgia too.
4. A couple of words or sentences: Why use an entire paragraph when you can sum it up in a couple of words? Just like a bow on a gift wrap, it ties it up into a neat little memory package for yourself and a gift of motivation to all your friends, family and happy feet members too!

Ok, so now that everyone is enthused about creating collages, here are a few simple steps to help you create your own:

1. Look for any collage app on your phone. There are many many free apps like PicArts, YouCam Perfect, PicCollage etc. They are all equally interesting. Take your pick.
2. When you start your walk, remember to turn on mapmywalk. At the end of the walk, save workout and take screenshot of your phone. Different phones have different ways to do it. Swipe for Galaxy, double press home key and sleep for Iphone etc.
3. Make sure you click a few pictures of scenery as you walk so that you can pick your favorite.
4. Click a selfie or 2 or many. If you find friends and family to walk with you or meet you along the way, stop them for a group selfie.
5. Open Collage app, pick a template, add each of these images and a few lines of text! Voila!! Your collage is ready.
6. Appreciate it, file it away and send it to your group leader.
7. Watch out for all the messages cheering you on! Smile and feel good!
8. Look for your image on Happy Feet Facebook Page. and make sure you tag yourself.
9. Look out for the end of the year Happy Feet Yearbook with collages. It will make a great Coffee Table book!!

Participants 50B

Information for parade participants

Happy Feet is participating in the India Day Parade. All members are welcome to join.

Pre-requistes to join Parade walk:

1. Wear Happy Feet T-Shirt with black pants/capris.
2. If family/friend of Happy Feet member or if you dont have your T-shirt yet, wear plain red T- Shirt of the same color as Happy Feet with NO text of any kind on it. Black pants/shorts/capris are required.
3. Be there on time during the line-up and BEFORE the walk starts and ensure you stick with the group.
4. Contact Namitha or Lakshmy as soon as you arrive.

What to Expect:

• Parade will start at 2:00 PM. Line up begins at 12:00 Noon.
• Parade walk will be around 1 mile only. Family is welcome to walk with members if pre-requiste is met.
• Family and friends are welcome to join the viewers if not meeting the pre-requistes to actually walk with the group.
• Flyers will be handed to new/potential members. Any help is handing out flyers is appreciated.
• Once parade is complete, there are multiple activities planned by the Parade organizer. Happy Feet does not have any requirement to stay beyond parade time.
• Parking may be a challenge due to large crowds expected. So please plan accordingly.

Where do I come:

Parade line up will begin at noon at the intersection of E. 4th Avenue and Center Street in Naperville.

Directions .

When you arrive, please look for check in signs or contact any volunteer who would be happy to assist you.

Parade will start sharp at 2:00 pm from the intersection of E. 4th Avenue and Center Street and will proceed south on Center Street to end at Naperville Central Park.

Events at Central Park will begin at 3:00 pm with speeches and recognitions from 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm followed by cultural programs till 5:30 pm. The park will be open to public from1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Humans are social creatures, we learn to love , trust and depend on each other for emotional comfort right from the womb. Have you seen pictures of twins holding hands in the womb? Do you recall a tiny infant grasping your finger? When was the last time you saw a mom grab a child’s hand before crossing the street?   How about that senior couple at the park , sitting on a bench holding hands and looking at everything around them? All moments of pure joy!

We love holding hands! A simple gesture that gives deep comfort and a feeling of security.

Share with us your experiences of holding hands. Tell us your story. You will see some images that really inspired me to write about this in this article.

As I continue to push myself to walk against all odds, one of the biggest ones being the monster that Ushasri talks about, I feel tempted to preach a little. I promise this will not become the norm.

Well there is a story behind this too. A few weeks ago the boys wanted to go to Sky High extreme trampolines.  As usual the entire family made it to the place. After the boys started their jumping and dad got situated in “monitor the kids mode”,my walk bug started nagging me. “Go out and walk”.

The facility is in an area full of warehouses. Once I got over my discomfort of “not so ideal location” coupled with warnings of being safe by the husband, I headed outside. Immediately I was hit with a wave of self consciousness when I saw the large rolling shutters, super large parking lots, many many trucks and almost turned back. But then , convinced myself that I can do it. It’s OK if I am the only human walking around that area.

After a few minutes , the comfort of walking set in and I was able to appreciate the foliage around me. Fast forward to this cordoned off area bursting with beautiful Prairie flowers.

Now comes my preaching moment!

Amidst all the pressure, I saw these flowers peep out of the black fence. Not one branch, not two, but several here and there making their break to freedom!

“Don’t let anything hold you back, be it the time of day or that lazy monster or the pile of dishes in the sink. They will all be there when you get back from your walk. The only difference will be that you will have a smile on your face instead of whatever emotion you were dealing with earlier!”

What is Map My Walk?

It is a website and an app that helps track walks quite accurately. It allows us to create a group and connect with each other. It also allows us to motivate each other right after a walk. Also interesting routes become evident that others may want to use as well.

Do I have to use the app to be a part of this group?

Happy Feet Walkers club is not associated with the Mapmywalk.com  in any way other than the fact that it seems to be a good tool that works on most mobile devices fairly consistently. We encourage members to use the app for consistency across members but it is NOT a requirement to me a member of the club.

Does it use my data on phone?

Yes.

Do I need it for my collages?

Most of the collage challenges that we post need some clear evidence of distance walked. Mapmywalk is the best option although other similar tools can be used if needed. Regular daily collage submissions also benefit from the distance covered but not a requirement.

How is it that some people have the image of route in their collages? I dont see an option to do it.

Basically once the workout is complete, you can take a screenshot of the map on your phone. This is saved as an image and you can use it in your collage. There is NO option directly in mapmywalk.

What if I walked and forgot to turn on the app?

If you know the distance covered, you can log a workout manually. You can either select from one of your existing routes if you used a common one or just put the distance and time etc. manually.

What are these challenges? Should I join them all? What will I get?

These challenges are just additional motivation if you like them. They are not required for membership. There are no prizes for these challenges except self satisfaction for a job well done.

How do I find friends?

Once you find one member in the app, you will see the others as suggested friends. You can also simply join the Happy Feet Group and everything will come naturally.

What do I do if I have more questions about the app that is not answered here?

Paste your question as a comment below and we will answer it.

We happy feeters have multiple hats- mothers, wives, employees, artists, caretakers for family members. How do we keep the happy feet walking commitment? It is hard.there are few ideas that may help

1) Goal setting

It is very important to set goals, setting goals lets us track our progress and increases motivation. These goals have to be SMART goals .Specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time- bound. If your total miles is at 50 then you may want to set a goal such as 50 miles in the next 2 weeks which is 3-4 miles a day. Setting achievable goals will help in reaching the target. Very ambitious goals can be fuzzy leaving the exerciser to give up. Make the goals interesting, if you are celebrating 15th anniversary in 4 months make your goal a multiple of 15.

2) Consistency

Keep the habit going. Even if you walk just a mile in a day it is just fine. walking a mile every day is better than walking 7 miles in one day and taking a break for a week . Consistent practice will help develop muscle memory for walking. Statistics show that 80% of the folks who join  a Gym never use the gym facilities.

3) Walking in a group

#HappyFeetWalkersClub is a great motivator. Walking with friends can be relaxing. Sharing ideas, simple joys and why even some counseling..The walkers in our club motivate each other. Everytime we post a collage of our walk invariably you get messages motivating you. The human brian loves positive reinforcement

4) Rewards

Create your own rewards, remember the beautiful dress at the store or the book you want to read. Don’t buy these until you achieve certain target miles or even have family members create some rewards for you. One of our walker has a 5 year old son who keeps track of his moms miles…Goals that are communicated have a higher chance of being achieved.