Watch Your Walk
Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash
What are your walks today?
Maybe an exercise walk. Maybe a walk to your car or your kitchen. Maybe a walk through the farmer’s market or (safely masked) in the grocery store.
Whatever the walk, what’s its style?
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If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know about Walk365ish - my unintentionally-started journey of walking every day for at least 30 minutes (up to 40 starting in 2020). For those curious, I’m on day 1,711 . (Yeah, wild.)
Each and every walk has a different feeling, a different style.
Some days, it’s energized. Fierce. I’m going for a record pace. I might even run a bit.
Other days, it’s slow, meandering. I’m enjoying conversation with a family member or exploring a hike in a new forest.
Most days, it’s somewhere in between. Always at least 40 minutes, always a dedicated walk time. (No, 40 minutes of walking in the grocery store doesn’t count.)
Sometimes, I’ll set an intention before I set out - an intention that generally matches one of the above styles.
Today’s intention was to take things slowly-energized. I wanted to feel the delicious tingling that comes from pushing into the “exercise” phase of walking, but I also wanted to move slowly enough to allow my attention to feel the cool fall air and to follow the podcast I was finally getting around to listening to.
Two miles into the walk, my attention was caught by a fawn to my right. I smiled as she simultaneously noticed me and darted off.
What I didn’t immediately notice was her mama to my left. Mama was much closer and in no mood to dart.
All intentions for the walk were immediately set aside.
I paused, pulled the headphones out of my ears, and just spent several seconds - mama to mama. I could tell by her demeanor that she was concerned but not threatened by my presence, so I took that moment to take this photo. (Deer are frequent visitors to and/or residents in our neighborhood, so over the years we learn to appreciate one another.)
Our moment shared, I continued on with my walk.
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Every walk is different.
My daily Walk365ish walks are unique. My walks up and down the hallway in our home are different, no matter how many times I do them in a day. My walks to the mailbox, through the grocery store, to the laundry room - each one is subtly distinct from the last time I did the same path.
Without noticing those subtleties, without an intention to pay attention, the walks would look and feel far more similar.
Over time, they’d become boring, have-to’s, nothing more than a way to get from one place to the next (or from zero minutes walked to 40 minutes completed). Perhaps you’ve experienced this with your own daily walks….or perhaps you haven’t even noticed how much you aren’t noticing your walk.
You and I have the opportunity to experience a new style of walk each time we take a series of steps.
(A respectful nod to the Ministry of Silly Walks feels appropriate here.)
You can start with that simple intention to pay attention. Next time you move, give yourself the gift of mindfulness. Feel the footfalls on the ground.
You can play with the movement itself. Skip down your hallway. Walk half speed from your car to the door. Twirl as you work your way to the kitchen. (Be sure to have walls nearby in case you get dizzy.)
Try infusing your walk with style. While this can be playful, too, it can also go deeper by aligning this very mundane action with an opportunity to express yourself in the moment. Feeling tired? Go all out and slump and thump your way. Want to uplift yourself? Walk that runway, girl, even if that runway leads to the bathroom.
And along the way, you can practice letting go of clinging to your destination (An important practice in life.)
If you come across a sock on the floor, or the phone rings while you are trying to get elsewhere, or a mama deer demands your attention, it’s okay to pause. Let go of frustration. Notice. Appreciate. Take care of what needs taking care of in that moment. Redirect (Pivot!) or return to your path.