Radio-Silent Walks

Lately, I’ve taken a radical approach to my daily constitutional. Ok, it’s not so radical, as it’s essentially what people have done for thousands of years before the advent of portable music devices, but hear me out.

For years, I saw a walk as an opportunity to pop in my earbuds and listen to a few chapters of an audiobook, catch up on my favorite podcast, or listen to music. I felt like there was so much to listen to, that an hour-long walk was wasted if I wasn’t multitasking.

Dave always asked that I walk without anything in my ears, for safety’s sake, but I assured him that I could still hear cars approaching because I never listened to anything too loudly. Plus, I have eyes. And we lived in a quiet neighborhood, etc. And what else was I supposed to do while I was walking?

Since working with my therapist on IFS, I’ve become more open to letting myself be in the moment and not so anxious about consuming all the books or podcasts or constantly taking in information from outside sources. A part of me – the smarty-pants part – wanted to say that I had read this, listened to that, and knew everything! But somehow, since doing IFS, that part has really quieted down. I didn’t do anything specific to get it to quiet down; it just happened.

So, these past few months, I have been walking and not listening to anything but the sounds of nature and humanity around me. Contrary to what I expected, I don’t feel like I am missing out on any audio content I would typically consume.

Instead, I appreciate the ever-changing display of clouds in the sky and the way the sunlight glints through the trees at different angles or intensities depending on the time of day and the time of year. I love to observe plant life cycles, from skunk cabbage tips emerging through the snow in early springtime to the flowers that bloom and fade all summer and into fall. This year has been a particularly good year for mushrooms. In the fall, the leaves provide a new delight each day as they lose their chlorophyll and reveal their true colors of bold red, orange, and yellow. I hear chipmunks and squirrels rustling in the brush as I walk past and hear the calls of woodpeckers or the trills of red-winged blackbirds in the fields as I pass. I’ve seen snakes, turtles, deer, and a fascinating array of insect life on my walks.

It’s also the perfect time to simply let my brain rest and my thoughts flow as they will. If I am facing a challenge of some kind, walking is a great way to give myself some unstructured time to think about it, or to be reminded that my life is bigger than whatever issue I am struggling over in any given moment. I often remember things that happened on other walks in my life. It’s almost like walking is a way of connecting with the past.

One of those memories is from the summer I turned 19 and visited Cape Cod with friends. One evening, my boyfriend and I went for a walk on the tiny, sandy streets of the Wellfleet neighborhood where we were staying and met a woman who lived there year-round. She told us how quiet it was there in the off-season and how nice it was. I don’t remember the details of the conversation, only that I thought it sounded like a lonely life to live out in the middle of the Cape during the cold, gray winter months.

Over 20 years later, I feel like that woman could be me. Now I can see the value of living in a calm and peaceful place. While I don’t live on the Cape (sadly), I do live in a very quiet area, and when I take my walks, I rarely come across another person. I walk through farms and past houses that are over 200 years old. There’s something nostalgic about walking past the rolling fields lined with stone walls. Even though I don’t know the families who lived there, there’s still vaguely familiar and comforting about the scene. I feel connected to something greater, somehow.

In conclusion… if you can, find a quiet place to walk, take your earbuds out, silence your notifications, and tune in to the natural world around you. If you’re having a particularly tense day, a walk can do wonders for burning off some of that stress (especially if you really huff it). It’s also great for putting things in perspective and reminding you that life is bigger than whatever happened at work (or wherever) that day. There really are so many mental and emotional benefits in addition to the benefits of the exercise and fresh air. On that note – I’m off to walk before it gets dark!