I'm a 20-year-old recent graduate who has started working full time in a somewhat corporate company for about 3 months now. This is what my daily schedule looks like:

• 8:00-9:30: commute
• 9:30-16:30: office hours
• 17:30-18:30: commute
• 18:30-23:00: dinner, watch something, relax
• 23:00-7:00: sleep

This usual routine of mine consists of ~12.5 hours sedentary time and ~3.5 hours active/standing time. In other words, 78% of my awake time is spent inactive, and only 22% goes to somehow being active and using my body when I walk between train platforms and the office, get ready for bed, or do some house chores during dinner. As much as it sounds awful, it feels awful too.

During school years, I didn't use to sit much or for a long time, except during exam times. Even then, we used to do lots of unnecessary walking around the campus with two of my friends. So this would give me a quick boost of energy and a chance to do some body movement. However, having started full-time work, things changed. A lot. Together with my coworkers, we take a 7-minute walk to a canteen during lunch. And, about 2-3 times I might stand up and walk inside the office to go to the toilet and grab water. This pretty much means that for my seven-hour sitting, I stand up and walk for at most 30 minutes.

At the start, this didn't feel that crazy at all, especially seeing my colleagues. I thought, "Welcome to real life". But then, something happened: I took a week of vacation in the summer and headed to the Norwegian mountains to live in a cabin and hike. We went to one of the tallest mountains in Norway, Gaustatoppen. Usually there are trains (or whatever transport you call them), but that day, I decided to hike to the top myself. Hearing from my brother-in-law that it should only take about 2 hours and even small kids could do it, I just said, "See you at the top guys" and went off with no water, no proper hiking shoes, or any food.

About 20 minutes into the hike, he texted me, attaching a screenshot from Claude saying this is actually one of the more challenging hikes and might take up to 5 hours. I went, "God". But I was no coward to come down just because I was scared. What? I wasn't scared at all. I just kept walking. In about 1 hour, my legs started not to obey my mind. I kept tripping on and on. I took some breaks in between and put on some Uzbek music to entertain me. I had forgotten my headphones, so I had to play it out loud, and to my fortune, there were not many people there.

Hiking, and especially a challenging hike, is the best way to be present, I realized. Every stone you step on, making sure it is actually a secure one, makes you focus on the current second in your life. Your mind turns off. You stop dealing with confusing emotions, concerned thoughts, or other types of disturbing feelings that steal you away from the present.

Halfway there, I thought I made a mistake and began to panic. I didn't want to go up nor come down. In fact, coming down seemed even scarier with such tired legs. So I kept walking. I'd sit down or lie down on the stones, hoping it would make my legs forget that they were tired.

In about 3 hours, I texted my sister that I made it to the top while they were still waiting for the train to lift them up. There was a crazy amount of people that day. I remember now this was one of the best things I have felt in a long time. Doing something with my body and being one with it. Actually witnessing it feel alive and real. This is something you forget quite often in the busy world.

I hiked to other places almost every day for a week. Then, it was time to come back to Oslo. I felt like a kid being forced and pushed by their parents to go to kindergarten on a cold winter day. The kid doesn't want to go back there at all. I didn't want to go back to the office at all either. It felt like a prison. But I had to. Just like the kid who had to make it to kindergarten anyway.

This feeling has actually grown since my body felt what it's like to be actually living and experiencing life when I spend most of my time moving. Since then, it's become quite difficult for me to comprehend how it is possible to sit through whole office hours without your back hurting, or your hips and legs getting numb, weak, and screaming for some movement. Especially when you know it is sunny outside and you can hear the sound of the waterfall right outside your office.

To my fortune, I've come to notice that no one asks where you've been if you disappear for some time at my work. So, I've taken up the habit of going out for at least 10 minutes to just walk along the river (and see many people enjoying the sun), call my mom or friends, and eat some raspberries. Slowly finding small and big ways to go back to feeling alive every day.