Wonder Walking... why do we walk?

Walking for connectedness, creative inspiration, and a million other whys!

So with the emergence of a niggly back (well, that’s what you get for showing off and chasing your kids up hills last week) and the absence of any training walks this week (well, anything over 3 miles) I was reflecting on the reasons why I walk, why I’ve always walked… And the image of a screaming new-born flashed into my thoughts accompanied by a soundbite from my other half- ‘Why don’t you walk? You always feel better when you walk.’ And he was right, that day I put my very new and very screamy son in his pram and I walked and walked and walked. That first year, I must have walked a million marathons (artistic license of course) with my son in his pram and then his buggy and then his ride along trike. And this weekend, that teenage boy and I walked together to drop a parcel off at a friend’s… but as we walked and talked I realised the ‘parcel dropping’ wasn’t the why of that walk… it might have been the goal, but it wasn’t the purpose. The why was for me to connect with my son, to catch up in an otherwise busy week and see how he is. Always much easier with teenagers when you are striding side by side. And whilst I may not have been firmly in the Camino Training Zone, this week I have walked… A LOT!

I walked for exercise, for some me-time, for some zoning-out time (podcasts a plenty here) to get to work (3miles in 40 minutes- I’m really proud of that one!) and yesterday morning I went for a creative walk. There is something about walking and creative inspiration, isn’t there? Apparently, a walk can improve your creative output by 60%, especially if you are looking for a fresh perspective and new ideas (https://news.stanford.edu/2014/04/24/walking-vs-sitting-042414/ ) And as a children’s writer, I’m used to walking to get the creative juices flowing, but since the pandemic derailed my writing brain, it’s been a while. And although this walk was to find some inspiration, it wasn’t for mulling over the sticky bits of my children’s stories, be it characters, plot or themes, it was to come up with an idea for a new writing avenue… A wonder walk, or wonder wander as I like to call it.

As it is my year of being brave, I decided to apply this to my writing goals and push myself into new writing territory. So, when I saw a call out for a writing commission that actually resonated with me- a proposal regarding outdoor walking space, I squealed with joy as it is right up my street. I’m going to do this, I thought, right up until I talked myself out of it… or rather Felicity (my Imposter Syndrome) did. So, I put it off. Until yesterday morning, when my ‘Be Brave badass Buddha’ talked me right back in to it (and my friends on twitter offered gentle encouragement- thanks guys!) ‘I AM DOING THIS!’ I thought. But the ideas, like the five o’clock traffic on the Coventry ring road, weren’t flowing … so I set myself an intention to explore what I could bring to the brief and off I went. Ten minutes in… Bingo… a new idea! Thirty minutes in, I had narrowed down my favourite routes to two options and by the time I’d walked for forty-five minutes the form of the piece was clear. Get in!

After my successful wonder wander, I sat down for a well-deserved cuppa and a new unexpected perspective emerged. I often reject myself without giving anyone the opportunity to assess and accept/reject me or my work… be it job interviews, writing projects, even writing a blog that I thought no one would read. But I’m going to stop ruling myself out of things before I’ve even ruled myself in. You have to be in it to win it, right? So, things are going to change around here and awareness is the very first step. Every journey will start with an open heart, a curious mind and the conscious act of ruling myself into opportunities. On that note, I’m off to write about my walks for the second time today and I'm excited about the possibility of a new opportunity.

Wish me luck x

What types of Wonder Wanders do you take? Do you walk to feel excited by your surroundings or engage your senses? Do you stroll to invoke peace and calm? Or do you stride to find inspiration? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below or you can find me on twitter @tizzief Alternatively, if you’d like to try a Wonder Wander, set yourself and intention and open yourself up to the possibility of fresh perspectives and new ideas … and don’t forget to let me know how it goes.