Why would you want to walk?
Walking is a form of exercise or activity which is really easy to fit into your everyday life. You need very little gear apart from a flat comfortable pair of shoes. You can d it from your front door and you can easily take it with you wherever you go, including business trips and holidays (when we can take those again)
At the moment it may be something that you really don’t think much about because most of us just do it. But what if it could bring about big changes in your life?
Walking is not just about movement and physicality, it’s about so much more. So much of that is to do with what it brings us and how it impacts our mental and emotional health as much as our physical health.
So yes, it can make you fitter; it will raise your energy levels; depending how much you walk and how long for you may lose wight and you will very likely tone up.

However, you will also become more aware of your surroundings and of yourself. You will see things that you didn’t spot before. You will start of hearing the birds but as time goes on you will start to distinguish birdsong, plants, trees etc.
If you feel anxious and worried, one of the best things to do is take a walk, be aware and be curious. As you walk and look around you’ll find that you don’t even think about those worries. Instead you will have given yourself some headspace, a breathing space even for just a short time.
Walking helps us slow our pace and with that it de-stresses us. It helps us sleep, it is great for improving memory loss and is a preventative tool for the majority of our major health issues.
I also believe that walking expands our creativity – I always come back from a walk with new ideas and using the recording element on my phone I have captured the basis for blog posts and podcast interviews and written the outline of programmes too. Have a go and see what happens for you too.
It also helps make decision making easier and makes us feel more grounded and connected to ourselves and to our planet.
One of the best things is that you don’t have to go far out of your way to walk, not on a day to day basis anyway.
You can use walking as your transportation or a part of it; you can use it when you go shopping or out doing errands; you can have meetings on foot (when our present situation allows); you can hold family conversations on foot especially the more difficult ones as no need for eye contact allows people to open up more easily and there is no chance of being overheard as there may be if you are sitting in a public place.
I love to go out for a walk with friends. I know this is something we cannot do at present but hopefully in time we can, so think about planning some mini adventures. One of my favourite kinds is where we take a couple of hours with good friends to walk to a pub for lunch and then we end up at another one a few hours after that at the end of the day to celebrate.

At holiday time, walking can be built into visits to new places and there is no better way to get to know a town or city than to walk in it. Walking allows you to change direction or go off at a tangent if a path looks interesting or something different has caught your eye. You can easily stop and even change the focus depending on what you discover.
I hope some of this has got you thinking and also seeing how you can bring this into your own life. If you don’t walk much then start small and build up. Be open to it and enjoy it.
It doesn’t matter what level of fitness you have, everyone can start somewhere.
