When I was young, I read a lot. I mean A LOT. My mother made daily visits to the library when I was young, and naturally my brother and I would tag along. I’ve read all the books in the kid’s science section and half of the books in the adult’s science section. I love to learn, and books are just another method of doing so.

What does this have to do with this post? Well, when you learn about the mechanics of something that is intrinsically human (such as walking), it can really mess up those mechanics if you pay enough attention.

In my high school years, I took an interest in the mechanics of walking after watching an episode of Daily Planet on the Discovery Channel (my favorite channel btw). I learned about how we walk and the mechanics of walking. I also learned the roles that bones, muscles, tendons and joints play while you walk. I’ve even carefully studied a 15-sec video of a person walking for hours straight.

Soon enough, the mechanics of walking was constantly on my mind. It became so obsessive that I would analyze the movement of each step I took as I walked. And because I had thought that a reversed-pendulum (it’s the way you move your legs) was a funny concept , I began experimenting with different “ways of walking.” Just for kicks, an example would be to lift your legs with the heel of your foot and to land on your toes instead of lifting with your toes and landing on your heels.

After a while, I started walking abnormally because so much was going through my head as I walked. I had to consciously think about walking in order to walk without looking like an idiot. This lasted for about 3 years…

In a way, I overrided parts of my mind that should be so natural and intrinsic to a human-being that it shouldn’t take any thought to perform.

You can read more about the basics of walking here: http://www.rubberbug.com/walking.htm – just try not to think about it too much while you’re walking

- Peter Kao