Why walk? A
personal view.
Walking Girl is a 27 year old Londoner and avid
walker, who lost four stone, beat depression and made big changes to her life,
spurred on by a new found love of walking and the fantastic benefits it brought
her.
Here, she writes
about how walking has changed her life for the better.
"I'm on a mission - trying to persuade people to walk. As much as possible.
There are lots of
good reasons why walking is great - probably too many to ever do justice to,
but I've decided to concentrate on the ones that have made it so important to
me. I hope people who walk already will agree with what I say (and perhaps have
their own points to add) and that people who don't walk will realise why they
should!!
1. Looking and
feeling great
I cannot stress
enough what an amazing effect walking has had on my body. I used to hate my
body and always felt uncomfortable in it. I felt out of shape and overweight
which had a really massive impact on my confidence in general. Walking has
changed all of that completely.
It's clear to me
that a lot of people don't think of everyday walking (e.g. around town) as
exercise. If you put the effort in though, it really is. If, like me, you go
from doing next to nothing to making the effort to walk everyday I genuinely
don't think you can fail to see a difference.
I've lost 4 stone
now and walking has made me feel completely different about myself. Not only do
I feel so much happier about how I look, but I have more confidence in my
physical abilities too. I've started running (something I'd never have done
before I lost the weight) and I'm confident now if I go walking with my Dad
(who sets quite a pace) that I'm not going to be left behind, feeling
embarrassed about being too slow.
My mental state
has improved immensely, and I really believe that my huge boost in confidence
and the way the exercise makes me feel - fitter, in control of how I look and
more relaxed - has been an important factor in this.
2. Getting out
of doors
I used to spend
most of my time indoors - going between home, some form of transport and the
office. Not unusual these days I think, but looking back, I don't think it was
good for me - particularly for how I felt mentally.
I've spoken
before about how much walking has helped alleviate my struggles with
depression, and while the physical exercise and my improved confidence were a
big part of this, I think just the simple act of spending more time outdoors
was also very important.
This is most
certainly the case when walking in the country. Breathing the fresh air and
being surrounded by beatiful scenery and wildlife is such a fantastic boost to
the spirits. What's perhaps more surprising is that I've found it to be true in
London as well. Yes, the air probably isn't that fresh, but just the feeling of
being out of doors and taking in my surroundings rather than rushing by on a
bus or underground on the tube really does lift my mood.
3. Seeing the
sights and discovering new places
It's amazing how
easy it is when you're on public transport in London to not really notice where
you are. I could go for days or possibly even weeks at a time without seeing
any of the sights of London properly as I'd be on the tube or peering out from
a bus window. Now I walk past and admire them pretty much everyday.
I've also
discovered lots of areas that I didn't really know existed before and I now
understand very well how all the different parts of London are laid out. It's
easy, as a Londoner, to become used to thinking of London as laid out like the
tube map, with no knowledge of where all the stations truly are in relation to one
another. That's not me any more though. Now I can navigate my way through most
of central London with very little need for referencing maps.
Along the way,
I've discovered lovely leafy areas, so near to where I lived that it really
surprised me that I'd never realised they were there. I'm convinced this must
be the same for other people too and that there's so much out there waiting to
be found.
4. Saving
money
For me it's
public transport, for you it might be a car, but whatever way you look at it,
money is going to be saved if you walk a journey.
It's been a
really important saving to me - about £100 a month at least I reckon. Even if
none of the other reasons existed, this would be a pretty compelling one for
walking more, but when you add this to all the other fantastic reasons you
really have to ask yourself - why the hell wouldn't I walk more?!?!
And finally.....
5. It's a
sociable, enjoyable exercise
Lots of people do
choose to walk alone, and I do a lot of my walking on my own for that matter.
However, what I like is that, of a weekend, The Boy and I can wander along with
a destination in mind, talk and look at the sights. While we're doing this,
we're getting some exercise, but we're usually enjoying the chat so much that
the exercise factor is never really noticed.
I've started
running recently, and I know for a fact that I couldn't talk and run at the
same time. Running is challenging, and that's great, but I'll never love
running the way I love walking. Walking is enjoyable and relaxing. Yes, it can
be challenging if you choose to make it so (e.g. by climbing up a hill) but you
can take your time and chat along the way, enjoying the sights and scenery.
It's great to be
able to do something that I know is having positive effects on my health
without it feeling like a chore or something to be ticked off because I know
that I should do it. Instead it's something that I very much want to do.
So....
I hope that's
been some inspiration - as I said, there are lots of other reasons to love
walking and I'm hoping that maybe people will have some more suggestions to add
as comments, but that's all from me for now.
Happy Walking!
Walking Girl"
