I walked every day for two weeks and here’s what I learned

If you asked me several years ago what practice changed my life the most significantly, I would have said, without a doubt, walking. It’s easy, free, accessible, and for me, fosters a sense of mindfulness and joy. As a college athlete, working out aggressively doesn’t do me much good- I tend to get overly competitive with myself and really fixated on goals. And this definitely isn’t my vibe anymore! 

But walking… walking is great for me! It keeps me active, it bonds me with my dog, it allows me to get a daily dose of vitamin D. The list goes on and on.

However. In the last year or so, I’ve stopped. Why? Good question! Covid probably didn’t help. I’m SO much more sedentary than I’ve ever been before. It’s meant that I’ve taken on a few more clients that I might have taken if I was going into an office every day, and that means that I’m even busier than before. I’ve had several housing changes, including a period of several transient months. And maybe more than anything, I just got out of the habit. Sound familiar? 

So I woke up one morning after seeing a TikTok about running every day for a week and I thought to myself that I’d like to try this out (but not with running. Oh god no.). So Monday morning, I got up, got my coffee, slipped on my shoes, and headed out the door! Here are a few things that I learned about myself, habits, commitments, and self-care over the next few days:

1. You do have time
   I have told myself HOW many times that I just didn’t have time. In fact, I even justified stopping my walking habit in this very post! But I made a commitment to do something for myself and I magically found that I fit it in. It helps that it’s such an adjustable habit. Some of my walks were 15 minutes, some were 45. 

2. Check-in with the lies you might tell yourself
   On the second day, I got up and immediately said to myself, it’s cold, I don’t feel well, and I’m not sure if I have time. As I got out the door, I noticed that it was actually sunny, breezy, and 65 degrees out. Truly perfect weather. But I was already making up excuses for why I didn’t want to go before I started! Are you doing the same? 

3. Celebrating yourself helps
   One of the things I did on this journey was to feel pride and accomplishment. Is walking 1-2 miles daily a HUGE accomplishment? Probably not for most people. Certainly not for me. But it also felt really good to celebrate myself. Maybe we could stand to celebrate ourselves a bit more. 

4. It might be easier to create a habit than you thought
   As time went on, I began to expect and dare I say, crave, my morning walks. It got built into my routine. It became a part of me again. As someone who tends toward a much more fluid and moderate life, making habits and sticking to them doesn’t necessarily come easily to me (“what does my body need today?” is an easier question for me to answer), but it actually came easier than I thought! 

5. It’s OK to change your mind
   What? Didn’t you just say that it’s easier to create a habit than you originally thought? Yes, I did! But hear me out. I LOVED my experience walking most mornings. But there was at least one day during this 2-week period that I just didn’t like it. I was tired, stressed, the weather was bad (I couldn’t even tell you what it was, actually!), but I just didn’t enjoy my time. So you know what I did? I turned around and went home. It’s OK to do that too. 

So there you have it! My little self-experiment about habit building, self-care, and daily walks! If any of this resonates with you, please reach out to me or one of the incredibly talented therapists that I work with to learn a little more about what we do! 

Sarah