Are you an escalator person or a staircase person?
In an airport, do you ride on the moving sidewalk or walk alongside it?
What about elevators? Do you ride them or race them on the stairs?
Most of us probably wouldn’t be able to answer yes or no to either every time, but would probably say it depends on the circumstance.
Carrying a really heavy box up a few floors? Elevator, for sure. Just looking to go up a few floors? I’m taking the stairs to get some steps in.
Have I been sick recently and need to conserve my easily depleted energy? I’m thankful for an escalator that allows me to get to the shops on the second floor of the mall. Out for a day in the mall and feeling great? Up the stairs I go.
Walking through the airport with friends and enjoying a nice conversation with plenty of time between flights? Moving sidewalks. By myself? I’m walking. Alone or with a group and worried about missing the next flight? I’m walking on the moving sidewalks (if not running!).
The point here is that elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks are wonderful when used to assist us in moving. But they’re terrible when they are the only ways we move.
[Tweet “Don’t allow automation to replace motivation.”]You and I were created to move. We weren’t given 2 legs so that we could sit all the time and be carried all the time. Sure, there are times that we need an assist — and as we’ve seen, men and women have used their God-given wisdom to create ways that can offer it — but we can’t allow automation to replace motivation.
When given the choice, if at all possible, take the stairs.
