Let’s talk about walking.
It’s how I get to wherever it is I need to go. Well, scratch that. I do find myself jogging/lightly sprinting to some places like work, or a meet up with friends because I am perpetually late as a human being. Running is my way of being on time (as opposed to, you know, managing my time better. I would like to blame my anxiety for this, but anxiety doesn’t own me. But we can talk more about that another day). It’s how I get to food, and friends, and my bed at the end of the day.
In the 10 months since I’ve left Disney — a job where I would almost always hit double the average daily step count needed — I’ve made a conscious effort to get out and take a walk for the sake of being outside in the world, and not just using it as a means to transport me from one place to another only to remain sedentary when I was where I needed to be. Now, at the hotel I worked at I also walked a lot in an 8 hour day, but after the inane amount of walking/moving done between Disney and the other job I had at the same time, the hotel didn’t feel like enough. I felt as if I was letting my body down by not taking advantage of what it’s able to do. I also felt like I was cooping myself up more since most everything I did took place indoors and out of the direct path of the sunny Southern California climate.
I started by walking before late night shifts or after early morning shifts. I downloaded a barrage of podcasts (but most notably always listen to Ear Biscuits with Rhett and Link, my favorite duo who film my favorite YouTube channel Good Mythical Morning) and took off. At first I was ambitious and told myself I would also do some HIIT sprints in the middle of my walks. And ambitious it was because I hate running. Even HIIT sprints are a friendly adversary to my lazy tendencies. I will say that I have been able to get those sprints into about a third of my walks. I’ve also occasionally thrown in some lunges mid-walk that make me look absolutely ridiculous to the moms jogging past with their strollers in tow, or the biker racing past like he’s about to win the Tour de France, or the older couple just trying to enjoy the outdoors together without having to see some young woman in her mid-twenties struggle to do a lunge correctly because she’s a right-handed human learning the correct way to use the muscles in the left side of her body. Athletics are a late bloom for me, so I’m learning to embrace the silliness in order to eventually do things correctly. But I digress.
Not long after I started making this a more regular part of my life, I began exploring. The walks started out by being jaunts around my neighborhood one or two times. Then by doing that, I learned of the little gates and walkways that lead out of my neighborhood and across the street to this great walking path that can either take half an hour or almost two hours to complete depending on the exact route I take. It’s a route with a paved path and a dirt path so if I feel like pretending I’m out on a REAL adventure, I walk that dirt path for a little bit (I always end up back on the paved path though because I know one of these days I’m going to slip and absolutely it if I stay on the dirt. I just know it). I get the chance to walk amongst trees, shrubbery, and wonderful pockets of flowers with houses and neighborhoods just a short jaunt away. It’s a little suburban wonderland of a walking trail that lets me escape for even just that hour I usually am out for. Or some days I will completely break the mold LIKE A MADWOMAN and walk an entirely different direction than normal only to stumble upon another little walking oasis with views that take my breath away. And while these walks really are not much, they’ve become my way of — at the very least — really seizing the opportunity to discover the small gems of where I live and show them off to friends. For someone whose anxiety has taken such a large chunk of opportunities from them, these walks have become my own kind way of saying “screw you” to the overwhelmingly frightened voices in my head. These walks make me feel braver, and if I add those good old calisthenic exercises to the mix, a lot stronger in many ways.
Over the last 10 months, these walks have now become one-third exercise related, one-third adventure related, and one-third self care related. By embarking on these mini journeys at least a few times a week, I’ve discovered a new little form of self-care that I had been missing. Doing these walks has given me permission to simply *be* for an hour or so while I’m out. With my podcast going and my route pretty much set, I simply get to exist between the trees, the silly comments from my podcasts, and the smiles from strangers. I get to fully take in the look of my neighborhood, the surrounding city streets, the hills that backdrop Orange County. I am allowed the opportunity to reclaim some time in busy days as an hour-long expression of love and kindness towards myself and the area I live in. And it’s all made even better by the sounds of innuendos and ridiculous commentary by Rhett and Link.
It’s self-care at it’s finest.
Heart Matters 