Walking is peace of mind and underrated.
Last year, on the 21st of August, I started to walk 10k steps daily. I’ve been doing 6k for a few weeks before and randomly decided to aim for 10k a day for a month and see what happens.
My initial goal was to move more, as sitting all day in front of a computer isn’t the best thing. Neither sitting on the couch or beanbag in the evening…
At first, it was hard. Quite annoying, though, to walk around the neighborhood to get those damn steps. Sometimes, I haven’t walked much during the day and had to complete the whole set in one go in the afternoon or early evening.
But after a while, I adjusted and found that simple walking was enough to feel great. It felt the same as after a workout.
Except for one thing.
My mind could wander instead of focusing on an exercise, I simply take another step, and there isn’t much to do for my mind. Perfect condition to let it wander.
It can reflect on the day or random stuff, solve problems, or make new plans. While calming down and then going quiet.
Total silence.
Sometimes I go for a walk with the intention of thinking about the next steps in a project, and after a few steps, my thoughts just stop and there’s nothing.
Just taking another step.
And another.
And silence.
If the weather is shitty, I simply walk at home.
Round after round in the living room.
Even more boring than walking outside.
But my mind has no excuses to skip a day.
And it still comes with silence.
Noticing what’s in and around me.
And peace.
Give it a try.