Why do we walk?
My other blog rawformorelanguage showcases my writing/poetry/creative work and rarely do the two worlds collide. With the exception of today where I find myself writing a poem about walking and the freedom that I experience in walking as at no other time in my life.
But it made me wonder why other people walk, hike, trek? What is it about being on your own two feet, going somewhere under your own steam? Although it is functional at times, for many people who love walking, it isn’t about walking down the street to the shops – (thinking about it maybe it should be?) but getting out into different environments that take us out of our own.
Thinking back to my own experience in Scotland and THE CAMPING, I was sooooooo far out of my own comfort zone and yet quickly found that I could experience something very peaceful, whether being camped next to a hotel or being surrounded by the desolate moor. I hate to admit that everyone around me was right (but they were) and I loved being able to park myself wherever the mood took me. And lying under canvas listening to the sounds of the night.
And on the Camino , particularly on the day that we walked over the Pyrenees from St John to Roncesvalles, I felt myself unravelling so much that even my tired muscles gave in and began to relax.
I have been doing a little research to ‘word fund’ my poem, and I have come across some interesting articles about the benefits of walking. Here are just a couple, but you get the point:
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/six-surprising-scientific-facts-about-walking
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25682368
Walking has a positive impact of the lives of those who do it! A positive impact on mental wellbeing – so that is surely why we do it, why I do it? Because it makes me feel good.
And as for getting out into the green spaces, well, it is now a therapy called forest bathing, developed in Japan for over-stressed, over civilised humans who need to get back in touch with their wilder* side.
(*I use the word wilder advisedly: before there were parties and champagne, there was surely being part of the natural landscape?)
Simple really? But it doesn’t make much of a poem…yet. What I would love is to hear from all the walkers/hikers/trekkers out there to find out your motivation and your stories.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Happy hiking!
Jacqui
talestrailsandtravels 