Walking is one of the absolute best things in the world
October 29, 2022
Walking is one of the absolute best things in the world. It’s an awesome way to discover things you might have missed – even in your own home town.
I enjoy walking with my wife, and now my daughter as well. It’s beautiful to get lost and discover things you’ve never seen before, to notice things you may have passed in a car hundreds or thousands of times and taken for granted.
Sometimes routes become routine and you start to miss or get used to things. My wife and I try to walk together every day, and we usually take the same paths, but as often as possible we try to spice things up and walk down a street we haven’t been down before.
I live in California, and one thing I love the most about where I live is that I’m so close to different walking, hiking, and nature trails. It’s awesome to take our daughter down streets that lead to bridges that lead to the ocean. Watching her run, throw dirt, explore.
I grew up in a fairly small town called Santa Maria, which I feel incredibly blessed to have gotten to move from, explore the world, and move back to. I love to see how much the town has changed and to tell my family about all the places we’ve been around town and all the things we’ve done growing up. We’re close to other towns, nature, and beauty.
One thing I always loved as a kid was walking around ‘forbidden’ parts of town with friends. Just walking around town has always brought me such joy. It’s incredible how many things you can learn about a place by walking through it.
Today is Saturday, and I dropped off my car to get new tires. Instead of waiting I decided to walk to Taco Bell – about a 20 minute walk. The street I walked down is a street that I drive down probably 5 times a week, but I never noticed that there’s no sidewalk at parts, so I had to run through traffic, cross through the graveyard, and walk behind buildings to get to a place that I’ve been 100 times.
So many philosophers and people of history talk about the importance and value of walking, especially in nature, but I highly encourage it even in an urban setting.
Take a walk today.
