Walk with me
As I’ve been sharing on social media, on Christmas eve day I began walking daily. It was just spur of the moment. I was busy with something and suddenly I just felt like I needed to take a break, outside, alone. So off I went for a walk down our quiet prairie road. I took deep breaths of the cold winter air and walked at whatever pace I felt like walking. Sometimes fast, and sometimes stopping to pick up any rocks that caught my eye. I guess I walked like I was a kid again, off exploring on my own.
As a child I loved doing that. For some years as a young child we lived on an acreage, and I got to go exploring all the time. Then in my teen years we moved near the ocean, and more great exploring was to be had. I often walked to the beach alone and would walk, and sit, explore, pick up shells and rocks, and simply enjoy my time alone. I was never truly alone, as I often spent my time talking with God about all the deep and pressing issues I faced that day/week/month/year.
When I got married, my husband and I would walk together. Once our first child came along, we continued walking with her in the snuggly, along with our two dogs. Then more kids came and I always made a point of getting out to walk with the kids. Often we would go on nature walks. I loved those nature walks as much as they did. We explored beaches, trails, mountains and any little forest paths we ever found. Finding so many treasures along the ways. The photos I have of all these adventures warms my heart.
But then the kids grew up, got busy with their own lives and their own adventures alone or with their new friends/boyfriend/girlfriend etc.. My husband isn’t much into walking anymore, he walks a lot at work. He will walk if I ask him to, but I can tell he doesn’t really want to… so I didn’t really ask often. But I missed walking and I was always kind of on pause, waiting for someone to walk with me.
But on Christmas eve day I suddenly remembered that I used to really enjoy just walking, alone, not waiting for someone else to come along, just heading out the door and doing it. So I did it. And it felt great! And I wondered why I hadn’t thought of this before??
So now almost every day since that first day, I’ve been walking. I started with 20 minutes and yesterday I was up to 55 minutes. I’m proud of myself for finally doing it. 🙂
A few days into this decision to just keep walking, I came across a virtual challenge. I’d never heard of such a thing so I looked into it. And wow, did it look like fun! To have an extra goal to aim for on top of the enjoyment of just getting out and walking every day sounded very appealing. And it’s weird, I don’t normally do this kind of thing but for whatever reason the timing was right and I decided to jump in. I picked the shortest challenge, to make sure I could and would actually stick with it, and away I went for a walk with a purpose to enjoy myself and add distance to my new challenge. To walk the distance of the English Channel.
Last weekend I finished my first challenge! I’m being sent a medal for this. Isn’t that cool? Along the way I also received notifications and e-postcards with detailed information about the area and its history. For this knowledge nerd, that was yet another bonus!
I’ve never been one to receive medals of any kind, track and field, science fairs, you name it, I was typically so-so at it. Did ok, but never enough for a medal, so this is a fun bonus. To me, a medal may seem silly but I’ve always been a big believer that the most important challenge is to challenge ourselves to do better that we did before, and that’s exactly what this is for me. A time to get going on something I’ve been missing out on for a while, and to keep going further and further in it. To not give up.
I was sent a certificate too. And along the way of my challenge, every 20% I completed, a tree was planted for my efforts. Yet another bonus! Trees are important to me. I plant many every year right here on our property, and now someone else is planting trees on my behalf elsewhere!
This first challenge wasn’t huge, but that doesn’t matter to me. I finished it, and I did it in just over half the time I alloted for myself. For my second challenge, I’m doubling my distance and doing the Mount Everest challenge.
I’m excited for this one because as you go along, you can check on the app where you are in the world, and for the English Channel, there just wasn’t a whole lot to see out there in the middle of water. Ha!
Yesterday I started the challenge and here’s where I ended my first walk, virtually;
I think that’s pretty cool, to be able to use the power of the world wide web to see where I would be if I had walked that distance climbing Mount Everest! I look forward to seeing more views along the way!
There is a cost to join these challenges, but I feel the cost is very fair considering all I’m getting out of it and it includes the cost of the medals being shipped to you. If you are interested in joining a challenge, use my link below and you’ll get a discount, and I’ll get a discount too! Win Win! Plus we’ll both get in better shape, mentally and physically while working towards a very fun goal. 🙂
https://www.theconqueror.events/r/PW256
I’m going to be sharing videos of my walks fairly regularly on my new tiktok account (HomesteadEmporium on there) so come find me! I like doing the Mount Everest challenge here in winter right now because I figure some of the weather I’ve been experiencing here on the Canadian prairies is probably a little similar to what I’d experience climbing a mountain. So far I’ve had some nice sunny days, a freezing rain day, snowy days and super chilly days where my face felt like it may freeze up and I walked in the door to my daughter laughing at me calling me frosty because I was covered in frost on my face and hair!
On that day I was thinking it may be best to exercise inside, but honestly, it’s the walking outside part that’s most important to my mental health so I went out anyways. For my work, I sit at my desk, cutting table, sewing table, etc. and when I go outside it’s far removed from my work, so it’s very good for me. While on my walk I’ll give myself little extras to do part of the ways, like arm circles, a marching walk with knees up high, fast walk, speed walk, suck in my tummy muscle workouts etc., everything I can’t do while working in a chair. It’s been very good for me. And part of the walk, I just focus on breathing deep, relaxing my shoulders and being.
I hope some of you will join and reap all these wonderful benefits as well. If it’s not possible for you to head outside for a walk, don’t let that stop you. This is what’s working for me. Maybe for you it’s walking on a treadmill, or riding an exercise bike, or going swimming at a pool or walking up and down your stairs. It doesn’t really matter what you do. What’s important is to just do it! If you do, leave a comment and let me know!
Remember, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to my blog, comment you’ve done so, and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a 25.00 gift certificate for our shops! If you have done so already, I’ll be sure to enter you in as well from our list of subscribers. 🙂
Thanks for being here with me!