It’s a miracle! 😂

My mum NEVER exercises. Unless you consider shopping as an exercise haha. Her favorite spot is the corner sofa and her favorite sport is channel surfing. During lockdown, Netflix was her best friend. And still is. Then on 19 July, my 70 year old mentor Ron Kaufman invited me for a 2 hours brisk walk in East Coast Park. I took pics and showed dad. He got inspired. And the following week, we did a walk together. From our home to a hot spring 5km away. We took pics and showed mum. She blue-ticked us. So dad decided to take walks on his own. But every time he completes a walk, he will send pics to mum. In three months, my 70 year old dad completed 37 walks! Each walk will take him about 2-3 hours. And these are the parks he has conquered. Bukit Timah nature park Woodlands waterfront park Bukit Batok nature park Little Guilin Sungei Buloh wetland Bedok reservoir Upper Seletar reservoir park Hampstead wetland park Labrador nature reserve Yishun dam East coast park to Changi village (by bike with me!) Admiralty park Botanical garden. Punggol waterway park. IT IS CRAZY RIGHT? Someone ought to give him a prize. Or at least sponsor him a NIKE full walking gear. Ok I did at this 20th walk. Haha. And then somewhere between the 37 walks, a miracle happened. It was subtle at first. Mum started watching health shows rather than zombie shows. And then she started fasting and juicing. And then she started doing home workouts with an auntie influencer on Facebook! Then on the fateful day of 8 November (last week), Mum joined us for her VERY FIRST WALK… at Jurong Lake! Can you believe it? The same woman who hated exercising…. and even blue-ticked us when we invited her for walks! It was such a milestone we took a gazillion photos haha. Here’s proof.

After the 2 hours walk, we brought her to NIKE to get her very first NIKE walking gear. As I am writing this, it has been a week and yesterday, they just walked Punggol waterway park. And mum made me promise that I will walk with her to Coney Island next week. Philip, I am still in disbelief. Here’s the conclusion I came to: ENVIRONMENT TRUMPS WILLPOWER. Who you hang out with matters. If you hang out with five health-conscious friends, and you will be the sixth one. If you hang out with five successful entrepreneurs and you will be the sixth one. If you hang out with five happy people, you will be the sixth one. My anti-exercise mum is living proof. So go relook at your goals. And then ask yourself, “WHO have already accomplished these goals?” Go hang out with them. Or “WHO are working on these goals and are way ahead of you?” Go hang out with them too. In time to come, you will witness a miracle… A BETTER YOU! Your #1 fan, Eric Feng