Walking in the Time of Coronavirus
I’ve been meaning to start walking or jogging every day, for exercise.
The coronavirus has many of us staying home—to watch our kids, to work from home, or from lack of work altogether. Our lives have temporarily changed. As I sat on my front porch recently, soaking in this new reality, one thing popped into my head: “I am going to need a lot of walks to get through this.” Walks for exercise, walks to get out of the house, walks to give my wife time alone, walks with my wife, and most importantly, walks to get away from the news cycle.
So far I am two-for-two on taking walks. I’ve walked about four miles each day and it has been the best thing I’ve done. I suggest you do the same. Do it in your own way: slow, fast, first thing in the morning, after dinner. There is only ONE RULE: Leave your phone at home.
This is your time to unplug and you can’t do that with a phone attached to you. No headphones, no phone, even if it’s to count your steps. If you can only be without your phone for 15 minutes, take a 15-minute walk. But don’t shortchange yourself by taking the phone along. If you’re worried about forgetting things that come up during your walk, bring a single piece of paper and a pen.
If your immediate area isn’t conducive to walking (and you’re not under a shelter-in-place order), drive the shortest distance to a walkable area. A park, shopping or business area, even another neighborhood that has good sidewalks. There are at least five reasons to take a walk, even during this challenging time:
1. Walking is free.
Walking is easy on the bank account in these times where our finances may be insecure.
2. Walking is exercise.
You will burn some calories that you won’t burn watching Netflix.
Image via Unsplash.
3. Walking allows you to see your neighborhood at your own pace.
In the Nashville area, we do most errands by car. Traveling 25-40 mph allows just a thin overview of how things look in your neighborhood, but it doesn’t allow you to stop and soak things in. At a walking pace you can stop to appreciate the details of a nice house, or notice a cat in the upstairs window. You might stop and talk to someone…from six-feet away to practice safe social distancing. You will likely notice many small details that go unnoticed from behind the wheel of a car. Cracks in the sidewalk, how fast cars are going, what animals inhabit your area, and other neighborhood details.
For example, you might notice a certain crosswalk that is difficult to cross because of how long it takes for the walk signal to appear after pressing the button. You might be inspired to email your council person and ask the lag time be reduced from 45 to 25 seconds. You may indeed save future lives as less people will lose patience and attempt to sprint across the road due to the inordinate wait time.
4. Walking allows you to see for yourself how things are progressing.
What businesses are staying open during the pandemic? Is construction of new homes halted? Are other people out walking and enjoying the outdoors? A lot of information is available on the internet but there’s no substitute for seeing things for yourself.
5. Walking connects us to our humanity.
If you have the time to make your walk last more than 20 minutes you will feel yourself becoming human again. No longer attached to a device, your ears and eyes will take in noises of birds chirping, dogs barking, cars approaching, nail guns, circular saws, sirens, leaves rustling and more! Today I saw a pigeon and a cardinal sharing the same bird feeder. It made me laugh! You will feel yourself react to these things with anxiety, calmness, surprise, happiness, sadness. The real world isn’t smooth, it has roots to turn your ankle and puddles to soak your shoes and socks. You may come across a dead animal that upsets you. All of these are natural human experiences. If you bring a friend you might find yourself having unique interesting conversations—conversations much less likely to occur while you’re both zoned in on your phones.
If you have anxiety, try to go walk near water. A lake, river, or even a fountain. Humans have an evolutionary attraction to viewing water. It calms us down.
One thing that always happens for me on walks is ideas come pouring into my head. The combination of endorphins, and a brain free from a screen produces a firehose of ideas. Sometimes I bring a piece of paper and a pen to capture the ideas. Sometimes I don’t bring anything, and in those cases the best idea is usually still with me when I return home.
When I return from my walks, I have text messages to answer, hunger to quench, chores to do, emails to delete, etc. Life is always there waiting for you. You can afford 20 or 30 or 90 minutes each day to go take a walk. It’s a great reset, form of exercise, mental break from work, way to get to know your neighborhood, and an escape from the never-ending scroll of the internet & social media.
Take a walk!
Top image via Unsplash.
About the Author
DJ Sullivan is a native of Rochester, NY. He currently lives in Nashville, TN. Reading Walkable City by Jeff Speck in 2013 kindled his interest in urban planning. He is an accountant and enjoys writing and traveling. This article originally appeared on his blog, East Nashville Urban Design.