We Really Need To Appreciate The Fact That Long Walks Make For The Best Stress Busters

If there¡¯s one thing my father loves just a bit more than his cup of tea, it has to be long walks.

Back when I was a child, I¡¯d request my mother to not send me out with dad simply because of how much the man loved walking and as a six-year-old it was difficult to keep up.

He¡¯d make me walk to the market, till the park, till the nearest salon and if possible, he¡¯d have me do Dilli darshan on foot. As a kid, I never understood the whole point of it.

However, as I grow up, I find myself walking around in my city and I¡¯m finally starting to inherit that love for long walks which feel like the best way to create a little distance from the chaos going on in life and have a little break to ourselves.

The restless child in me might not have liked the calm that long walks have the ability to induce but the stressed out adult in me has come to fully appreciate what walking can really do for us.

unsplash

The distances I once dreaded are the ones I¡¯ve come to love now.

Long walks all by ourselves help us introspect and clear our minds. And to think that the simplest activity can help us unclog our minds of all that¡¯s been going on is surprising as well as understood, making long walks one of the small joys of life that can instantly lift up one¡¯s spirit.

Putting on the walking shoes and going for a walk offers the kind of clarity that nothing does.

unsplash

And when you¡¯re falling for someone and want to know them just a little better, try long walks instead of a fancy dinner for it will help both of you open up to each other. With a clear mind, you will feel your stress levels dropping and when you don¡¯t have so much going on mentally, you finally have the opportunity to talk about things that make you ¡®you¡¯ instead of talking about the tags the world has given us or the food that¡¯s right in front, waiting to be Instagrammed.

unsplash

In my own experience, long walks help me stay in touch with my surroundings. The changing seasons, the colour of the leaves turning different, the beautiful buildings that carry so much history, the birds that find their chirping taken over by the noise pollution and the people of the city are all more visible when you¡¯re walking because there are no distractions.

And when you connect with your surroundings, you connect with yourself.

unsplash

Given that our cities are turning into concrete jungles and the walking space is increasingly decreasing, we need to be taking more of long walks to remind ourselves that walking is absolutely important to our being.

It¡¯s one of the few small joys that cost nothing but have so much to give to us and that¡¯s exactly we need to appreciate them a bit more than we do.