Why I walk
Daily walks as medicine
Hello you,
For the last three weeks or so I’ve been walking every day. I prescribed myself a daily walk as medicine.
The actual medicine I was prescribed recently was horrible for me and I felt called to try this instead.
Today I stepped out early because there is something so precious about that Sunday dawn time, before the rest of the world is awake and busy living.
Just me, the birds and the farmer who hollers across the fields, a voice so resonant he could be a performer in another life.
A walk on a late summer morn is a simple gift that one day I might ache for. So I open it and cherish it now.
“Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive” - Hafiz
Today I wrote in my notebook that there is something significant about walking just to walk not because you’re going somewhere.
And then moments later I read these words by Alex Elle here
Something that walking has taught me is that loving myself can be as simple as choosing to keep my word to myself. It's as simple as going for a walk, long or short, and believing that I am deserving of that time and space. I don't have to be "going somewhere" to walk.
When I’m walking I hear whispers of my own voice. I am not being ‘productive’, to achieve or to fix myself.
These walks are tender and meandering. I have glimpses of being truly present. I forget time because I’m in it instead of missing it rush by, out of my control.
When I’m walking like this I’m not pushing, striving and trying. I’m not rushing away from myself, running towards feeling different. I have moments of presence.
I shed things as I go. Old skin and old stories that I no longer need to carry around.
Sometimes I imagine little Janelle is walking with me, just to my left.
If I listen closely, my steps on the Earth make music. The wind through the leaves sounds like an applause.
My walks aren’t blissful. But they often contain glimmers and moments of bliss.
And it’s amazing how those can see me through and charge me up. Despite how fleeting they can be.
Janelle x
P.S I am gently making something new over here called Nature Writing Club. If the name intrigues you then come and have an explore.
My name is Janelle and all this month I’ve been saying that “little Janelle” needed this or would be proud 🥰
Walking is our natural movement pattern so it must be good for us. My walk across France was hands down the most healing thing I could do after the death of my husband.