One of the things on my agenda over the last few weeks had been to find the perfect birthday gift for my wife. An electric bike seemed like a good idea; She could use the bike to go to the grocery store, to meet friends, or to plan a weekend sports activity. More importantly, ( I thought) we could spend time together riding bikes across our lovely town of Safety Harbor. So I decided to buy an electric bike for both of us.

A few days later, I narrowed in on an electric bike sold on Amazon; it had the best reviews and fulfilled my requirement of the kind of model I wanted to buy for my wife. But as I immersed myself in researching more bikes and reading the customer reviews, I got carried away and chose a fancy bike for myself; the bike I liked was one with big orange wheels and speeds of up to twenty miles per hour.

When the bike arrived, I was as excited as a teenager with a new set of wheels. Suddenly, everywhere I went, I was on my colorful and powerful electric bike. My gym, the office, and even the grocery store are within a five-mile radius from my home. And the electric bike became my preferred mode of transport to any of these places.

I have a medical condition which was resulting in mood swings as well as weight gain. Despite my efforts to lose weight, I was not able to accomplish the goal of keeping an ideal weight for my body. The decision to buy a bike changed everything for me. For starters, I am much more regular with the gym workouts since I enjoy hopping on the bike to get there. Riding that bike has made me want to go out more, even after a tiring day at the office. Spending more time outdoors has been great for my overall sense of well-being. I find myself feeling more at ease both at home and at work. Of course, from a physical fitness perspective, I could have bought a regular bike, instead of an electric one, but I am thrilled with the choice I made.

We can all do something to make ourselves healthier and happier. Whether it’s my kids at home or my young employees in Florida, I find that they are spending too much time on their computers and mobile phones interacting with people virtually rather than making real-world connections. They just aren’t spending enough time outdoors. That’s a trend that I also see in the India office, which employs four hundred people, most of whom are in the under forty age group. For a long time, I have been speaking to these different groups of people about spending more time outdoors. It would boost not only their physical health but also their emotional well-being. I hope that sharing my experience with buying a bike, spending more time outdoors, and the positive impact it has had on my health will encourage others to make similar changes.