Go For a Walk

One of my New Years resolutions is to walk home from work at least once a week. This is sometimes the last thing I want to do at the end of a long day (especially as a teacher, when most days are spent entirely on my feet). But here’s the thing about going for a walk when you’re really, really tired, and you really, really don’t feel like going outside.

When you go outside, when you begin to move your body just a bit, even slowly, you begin to feel better.

This isn’t any wild revelation, but it’s a truth that I want to remember, and I thought maybe you’d like a reminder, too. It comes down to this:

Sometimes, the last thing we want to do, is exactly what we NEED to do.

For our sanity. Our soul. Our revival in the world.

On a recent walk home from school, I was plowing along, headphones in my ears, breathing deeply. It has been a long winter here, and it’s easy to become stagnant. As I walked, I noticed someone walking towards me. It was a student of mine from the high school where I teach. Now, let me just say that this student and I did not have a smooth start. Things were a little…rocky. A swear word (him) was aimed at me one day. A first-class ticket out of my room and to the office (me) was handed out. We moved past it, as people do (teenagers, especially, I have noticed, have a remarkably hopeful ability to forgive and forget tough moments in the classroom. I don’t ever want to take this for granted, but it is helpful to remember that one tough day does not necessarily equal a tough forever. Things shift. Brains grow. Most of us move on).

Here we were now: Me. The ‘tough’ kid. Walking towards each other. I fully expected him to give a curt nod and pass me by (it’s definitely not cool to stop and have a long chat with your English teacher on the street). Instead, he stopped. I pulled my headphones off. And we chatted.

He’d just come from the gym, he told me, and was walking home. “I didn’t know you liked to walk,” he said.

“Yes,” I told him. “Sometimes it’s nice to get outside.”

Then he told me that he’d be transferring soon, heading to a special job training school in another town. “I know you’ll miss me,” he said, grinning.

I smiled too. “I will,” I said. And I meant it.

We said goodbye and headed in our different directions.

It was one of the best walks I’ve taken during my short time in this small town. If I’d not made the choice to walk home, if I’d ignored the thing I really needed to do, none of it would have happened. No lifted spirit.

That’s all for today. Just a simple story. Just a simple suggestion: Go for a walk. Alone. With your dog. With someone you love. With music. With silence. And notice how the world around you can lift you, can carry you where you need to be.

Thanks for reading.

-Beth