A podcaster quoted a study that said 95% of people take the escalator vs. the stairs when they had the choice. Then the podcaster said, “I created a rule for myself which is – always take the stairs unless there are exceptional circumstances”.
I have the same rule, although I apply it more often to elevators.
I started doing this when I was a freshman in college waiting for slow, crowded elevators in the Cathedral of Learning. Hundreds of students would pour in and out the banks of elevators, all rushing to get to class. I remember one afternoon when I was crammed into a jam-packed elevator when it hesitated between floors and I thought we were going to get stuck.
From that point forward, I chose to take the stairs whenever possible. Partly because I didn’t want to risk getting stuck on an elevator and partly because I’d be so furious with myself if I did.
Ione of my classes in the Cathedral Of Learning was on the 35th floor. The first time I took the stairs was a physical challenge to se if I could do it. As I climbed the stairs,I discovered that none went straight up all 35 levels. Instead, I had to crisscross the building several times to traverse different stairwells to make it up to the top.
My favorite part was somewhere near the top, when I had to cut through a floor of professors’ offices and desks. Sometimes there were one or two people working. The rest of the place was like something out of a time lapse video – crammed with files, books, journals, framed photos, calendars and briefcases but devoid of people. It felt like I was trespassing into a private world.
I liked the silence of that 35 story climb. It took me 20-30 minutes. I rarely encountered another person on the stairs, other than the occasional professor walking down a flight to catch the express elevator that only stopped on specific floors.
The lower floor stairwells were modernized, with newer concrete, steel-edged stairs, orange glowing lights firehose boxes and axes. The higher I went, the older the staircases became. Near the upper levels, the stairs dipped in the center from decades of use.
Since then I have climbed stairs at schools, colleges, hospitals, office buildings, steel factories, apartment complexes, warehouses, stadiums, city steps, courthouses, nature trails and onto airplanes. Every one gave me a glimpse into a hidden part of the world that many people pass right by without ever knowing it exists.
40 years later, I’m still taking the stairs.