Could you elaborate on the walking part?

There are a bunch of studies showing various risks dropping with daily walking.

fitbit like device manufacturers have pushed various numbers, but studies seem lately seem to be floating in the 9k steps a day region as to where the benefits stop

I lost 84lbs over the last year walking 3 miles every day and changing my diet. It takes me about 45 minutes to walk 3 miles. The walk also helps me to burn through my thoughts/feelings.

I eat a lot of healthy stuff now like porridge, vegetables and fruit. My dinners haven't really changed. Like a child I have ice cream every night. A fancy dessert once or twice a week. I don't eat after dinner.

Experience has taught me you don't have to train like Rocky if you want to get fit. You train like Rocky if your job involves people trying to beat you up.

> Paying your mortgage off can leave a sense of emptiness, like what next?

It didn't leave me with "what's next" but it was very anti-climatic for me. I worked a shit-ton of over time and a 2nd job to make extra payments. We were dumping everything into our mortgage. I looked forward each month tracking where we were and where we would be in 1-month, 6-months and a year out. I looked forward to writing that last check. And then the day came and there were no balloons or ticker-tape parades. The next day the sun rose in the east and set in the west. Weird!

> Paying your mortgage off can leave a sense of emptiness, like what next?

Months away from this. Obviously each to their own, but I think I'll have a sense of achievement, security, and relief once it's gone. Due to sacrifices I've made we've managed to pay off a 25y mortgage in a little under 12y. I can't wait to be debt free and not at the mercy of bank interest rates and economic disasters. I can then start putting more aside for my kids.

Why though? It would make more sense to keep lending at 2-ish% and making 8 in the market just throwing it in the S&P. The spread is 6 pts or more on average.

Agreed, and this is what I did too. You just don't know how much a space it feels in your thinking and purpose until it is gone. I imagine their may be a cautionary tale in there about enjoying today.

>You don't know what other people are thinking, and they don't know what you are thinking.

This is not absolute and you have to be careful with the interpretation.

"Intuition/Gut Feeling" (which is a successful evolutionary trait and part of our "Animal Brains") comes into play here and should never be disregarded, particularly when it comes to a sense of uneasiness/danger with other people/environment.