My favorite mall pastime used to be browsing among the finer menswear shops for elegant neckties at bargain prices and enjoying dinner out, when I tired of strolling the aisles.

Things have changed somewhat now.

My strolls are shorter since the onset of Parkinson’s Disease and a tendency to walk slower, with a nasty feeling that things are a bit out of sync from the knees down. And I have a slight sense of paranoia ever since Jan. 16 when an uneven sidewalk caught my toe and sent me flying.

My urban strolls have been curtailed during nights since while recuperating from cuts, a broken nose, bruised knees, and abrasions plus blackened eyes that made me resemble a panda bear or a raccoon.

Now that I’ve again ventured out in public, I’m not shopping for menswear, but athletic gear and body building devices to strengthen my battered physique, which has almost returned from black and blue to pink.

I need help!

There is so much of this mysterious stuff — depending on where you go — I have little idea what it is or what it does. Dumbbells! I do know them and it appears those are jump ropes, but they could be jumper cables for a UFO.

I would far rather continue perusing the menswear, because I at least know what I’m looking at, such as that genuine Scottish Harris tweed herringbone sport coat which would look so elegant with a red and black regimental stripe tie. I doubt I can ever afford the proper accessory, but it would be perfect with a bespoke shirt of light blue Oxford cloth.

Oh, if you’re unaware, “bespoke” in British men’s fashion parlance, means hand-tailored to your personal measurements.

I’m ready and in need of a new dress shirt, after the bloody one from my Jan. 16 fall was ruled unsalvagable by the cleaners.

Now where were we, yes, the athletic items I need to strengthen my aging physique. Stretching devices are recommended to offset the stiffening of limbs characteristic of my vile disease, caused by gradual death of dopamine neurotransmitter cells in the brain. These are what allow muscles to function and move smoothly plus a few other things.

When they continue dying off, the muscles seize up in a gradually worsening rate and one falls down increasingly, with the onset of more dire symptoms assured.

As we know, PD is incurable, although great strides forward have been accomplished in the quest for one

So it stands to reason that all we can do is strive to maintain good health practices as prescribed by our personal doctors and the broader Parkinsons’ medical community. The scope and effort in place is truly amazing, when one scans the Internet. And there is room for optimism despite the lighter, perhaps wry touch sometimes allowed here.

One aspect we must never lose sight of is the demand to cultivate good health habits in our individual and personal life with PD, no matter the stage

By so doing and interacting with others in support groups including family members sharing the load together, we are all the stronger for it.

While scanning and sometimes plowing through categories of value to us, the segments on habit forming–and bad habit breaking–strike one for their variety, richness and hope.

Besides a multitude of contemporaries we find thoughts on the subject of habit and its impact in driving our lives, from Aristotle to Mark Twain.

The depth and breadth of habit forming and habit breaking to come down to orderly time periods among many who’ve considered the question of how long it takes.

The preponderance of estimates were 21 days, 30 days, 66 days and

“It depends.”