Walking

Why We Walk

I am a walker. It just feels good to me.

The motion is meditative and medicinal all at once.

My mind runs when I walk. My feet crack the code to my creativity and break dance on my (writer’s) block. This is my neighborhood.

I like to walk.

It keeps me leaning forward. My emotions are unstuck.

And, my spirit finds its stride in my too-long legs which have always carried me outside my comfort zone.

I can walk anywhere and be free for free.

Walking is fast enough to discover plenty of the world on a daily basis. Yet, walking is slow enough to truly experience the world if I would only be present in my steps.

I have always struggled with being present.

Here is what writer Lauren Elkin says about the joys of walking:

“Walking is mapping with your feet. It helps you piece a city together, connecting up neighborhoods that might otherwise have remained discrete entities, different planets bound to each other, sustained yet remote. I like seeing how in fact they blend into one another, I like noticing the boundaries between them. Walking helps me feel at home. There’s a small pleasure in seeing how well I’ve come to know the city through my wanderings on foot, crossing through different neighborhoods of the city, some I used to know quite well, others I may not have seen in a while, like getting reacquainted with someone I once met at a party.”

Source: Why We Walk​

I discovered this quote from Lauren Elkin because I read James Clear’s clever 3–2–1 Thursday weekly newsletter. It’s the most valuable e-mail I receive every week, by far. In fact, Clear, author of the best-selling personal development book, Atomic Habits, has a pretty cool tagline and mission for his newsletter: “The most wisdom per word of any newsletter on the web.” You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

Keep your eyes on the prize. And, keep on walking.

Honestly,

Ed.

I am a poet, essayist, and civic strategist based in Birmingham, Alabama. Let’s stay connected via HonestlyEd on LinkedIn, Medium, or Instagram. Subscribe to receive my blog posts. Join Medium here.