Persuasion to Exercise

Oh love is such a tricky lil bastard, especially when you rely, or are forced to rely, upon outside opinions on the matter. Ya know what else?  Exercise is a tricky lil bastard as well! What happens when love and exercise come together?  As in Pride Prejudice (which I wrote about here), exercise via walking is central to the development of the plot in Jane Austen’s Persuasion (which I recently finished reading).  So I thought I would share with you why walking (let’s broaden the term to “exercise”) is important for our dear protagonist, Anne:

• Guys check you out when you walk. This makes other dudes (the one you like and who likes you back but refuses to say anything yet because he was previously turned down) jealous.  So what if the guy checking you out turns out to be your cousin!
• A person’s character is revealed. When walking in a group of people it’s like that little saying, “birds of a feather flock together” comes to life and you see people bare their true colors as they form groups and cliques based on similar interests.
• Annoying girls do stupid things which may make you happy.  That annoying Louisa and her stupid lust for the dude you like!  Oh, wait, there she goes jumping off a ledge so your crush will catch her, but OH — he missed and now she’s hurt!  What a dumb-ass. Now your true nature of being in command and intelligent is revealed, which kinda helps you out with the dude you like.
• Guys or gals interested in you vie for your attention.  Must be that the blood gets going, then gets boiling and then we’re all just sexually-charged animals grazing the fields or something.
• Important information is revealed that might not have been revealed otherwise. Someone keeping a secret?  Get him or her to go on a walk with you and the story will just start pouring from his/her lips!
• You realize what’s  important in life. Ah the spa town of Bath and all those ritzy homes you pass.  You realize they mean nothing if the people living inside of them are dumb-asses.

So what are you waiting for?  Go take a stroll!  Get the blood moving!

Tags: exercise, Persuasion, pride and prejudice, walking