Walking 525 days straight

Fayette County resident Anthony “Spark Plug” Thomas, a nationally known motivational keynote speaker and ambassador for women business owners, celebrated a milestone on Dec. 31.

He and his wife of 20+ years walked together one hour per day for 525 consecutive days. The couple endured all types of weather challenges including rain, sleet, snow and extreme heat to keep the streak alive.

When asked why they did it, Thomas said that daily walks help “promote stress reduction for small business owners.”

When polled by the Small Business Owner Report, small business owners say maintaining a small business causes twice as much stress as maintaining a healthy relationship with a spouse or partner, nearly three times as much stress as raising children, and more than four times as much stress as maintaining their personal finances. The report also notes that small business owners are not only stressed out by their businesses, but they are also letting other aspects of their lives fall by the wayside in order to run their companies. Of those small business owners surveyed, they claim they regularly give up exercise (37 percent) and other personal priorities to manage their businesses.

Thomas said walking together “is a small gesture, but somebody’s got to shine a light on this pressing issue because stress can be deadly.”