I'm ending my Content Challenge early. Family and professional demands blossomed suddenly--both good things, to my way of thinking. I'll scale back to weekly posts that focus on the freelance writing and content marketing world. 

Those of you who are interested in Airbnb and other vacation rental topics, please visit our Walker's Riverside Properties website. You'll find real estate stats and information as well as vacation rental posts.

I'll see you in a week. 

​Most of us know that daily walks are good for us. We may not be able to list many specific benefits, but we know that walking is a low-impact elixir of health that's doable for almost anyone and doesn't require expensive equipment. My morning walks provide another benefit--they spawn lots of ideas that help me create content. To mark the halfway point in the Content Challenge, let's discuss daily walks, the well-known elixir of health, and the silent elixir of content creation.​

According to WebMD, a morning walk yields an extensive array of health benefits. These include, but aren't limited to:

• Feeling better.
• Clearing the mind.
• Lowering blood pressure and the risk of stroke, heart disease, and diabetes.
• Improving memory and reducing the risk of dementia.
• Boosting energy, overall physical health, and mental health.
• Preventing weight gain.

These are impressive! For me, the most remarkable reason to take a morning walk is this statement, also from WebMD: "Studies have found that 1 hour of brisk walking can increase your life expectancy by 2 hours." Wow! One hour of brisk walking can mean two more hours of life. 

In an earlier post, I shared how my habit of early-morning walking began when I started walking our puppies, Pepper and Callie. That was 13 years ago. Callie has passed, and Pepper is old and unable to walk briskly for any distance.  I'm still able to enjoy a brisk walk and have done so for so long that a morning without a walk seems incomplete.  I have two dogs to thank for helping me develop a habit with many health benefits. ​

Alan Moon, the creator of the wildly popular Ticket to Ride board game, says that "Ticket to Ride came into existence in the spring of 2003 during my morning walk along the Atlantic shore in Beverly, Massachusetts.  The night before, I had played a railroad prototype . . . and the playtest had not gone well. I was thinking about how to change it when a new idea suddenly popped into my head. The coastline and scenery disappeared during the rest of the walk, as this new idea formed into an entire game. I began playing it in my head and couldn't wait to get home." 

My morning walks haven't yielded results on that scale, but they certainly help me create content.  Here's what I've noticed:

• In the morning, my mind is fresh. I concentrate better. While I walk, I can ponder ideas and have some uninterrupted time to develop them.​
• Quite often, I meet neighbors. We chat briefly. Something they say or do spurs a thought. Sometimes those thoughts blossom into outlines for articles or blog posts. 
• The beauty and charms of nature spawn ideas.  A fiery-red dawn is awe-inspiring and thought-provoking. A wild bunny, a hawk in an evergreen, a turkey near a stream--these strike my imagination. My mind ponders while my feet pound the pavement. 

When I get back home, my mind is fully awake and ready to tackle the day. Obviously, I haven't come up with an idea as life-changing as Alan Moon's was. Nevertheless, I plan to walk tomorrow--and the next day. I don't know when a "Eureka!" moment will happen. When it does, I want to be able to ponder it at length.

Our dog Pepper is old--closing in on 14. She's the topic of the 2nd Content Challenge post and the inspiration for today's YACHT call-to-action (CTA). Click here to see Content Challenge post #1.

Born in a litter of seven, Pepper was rescued by our neighbor who saw free "German shepherd/lab" puppies advertised. When he went to pick one out, he was surprised to learn that they were skinny and living under a shed. He brought one home and discovered that it was quite sick. A trip to the vet revealed that the puppy was "riddled with parasites and might not survive." A dog lover, our neighbor went back and rescued the whole litter. We helped pay for the vet fees and claimed Pepper and another female. 

If you look closely at the picture, you'll see Pepper's beautiful blue eyes and light tan eye patches. Her sister, who we named Cally, had distinctive tan eye patches and a very broad chest. So, we're convinced that our "shepherd/lab" pups' heritage also included Rottweiler, possibly with some Siberian Husky mixed in for good measure. 

We taught Pepper and Cally the basic commands--sit, stay, come, and heel--but it took lots of persistence. Eventually, after several years of taking daily walks, Pepper could respond correctly when I told her to turn left or right. That was about the extent of their "trick" stash. Rolling over, playing dead, and catching a ball or Frisbee were not in their wheelhouse.

Pepper is rather timid, afraid of thunder and fireworks, and hates to be scolded. One of her most endearing traits has always been her desire to stay out of trouble. She generally heeds commands quickly.

Without our teaching her,  Pepper learned to "direct" us to Cally--who figured forgiveness was easier than permission--when she decided to wander into a neighbor's yard. If I asked Pepper, "Where did Cally go?" she'd look guilty and sad, as though she didn't want to be a snitch, and then turn her head in the direction Cally went.

Cally died just over two years ago. We knew that dogs often grieve when another dog dies. So, we wondered how Pepper would fare. Her naturally "sad" look became a little sadder, and she lost a bit of weight, but otherwise seemed fine then, and she does now.

Actually, the old girl has surprised us by rallying, even adding a couple of "tricks" to her repertoire in her senior years. Now, instead of waiting for us to let her back in from outside, she stands on the front porch, faces the door, and barks.  If it takes us more than a few seconds to let her in, she barks again--louder this time.  

We always gave both dogs treats at night when they came in from outside, as long as they came right away. After Cally died, we enhanced the treat giving for Pepper. She usually gets a treat whenever she comes back inside. Lately, she's discovered that if you can convince someone that you really need to go out every few minutes, you get lots of treats throughout the day. That's good thinking, especially for an elderly dog.

What's the link between an old dog learning new tricks, me enhancing my freelance content marketing, and you?

Just this: good, old, sad-eyed Pepper demonstrates that you're never beyond learning something new. If a geriatric dog with arthritic joints and bad breath can keep learning, so can we, regardless of our profession, age or personal situation. 

You Accept the CHallenge, Too, by learning something new today. It could be something as simple as using a search engine to answer a question you don't know how to answer. If you're a student studying for an exam or any professional researching a topic in your field, you already have this challenge covered.  

Watch for another edition of the content marketing challenge tomorrow.