Solvitur Ambulando
Josh and I sometimes walk in the evenings. We don’t keep it up all year because we’re so lazy. Like so lazy. But every once in a while, we pull our shit together and throw on a pair of sneakers and walk around the block. When the kids were little, we brought them along. When they grew up, we used those walks as a time to get them comfortable with staying alone. And now, they are a chance to talk without little ears listening to everything we say.
Those little ears seem to keep the exact same wakefulness hours as we do, giving us very little time to talk out things without someone interjecting, “Hey, what do you mean when you say…” outside the kitchen door.
Quartz had a post about the term “solvitur abulando,” which means “it is solved by walking.” Meaning, when you get moving, your brain also chugs along and helps you process emotions and problems that feel bulky and overwhelming while you’re sitting. And it’s totally true. I do feel better after a walk, at least, emotionally, even though I equally dislike being outdoors. But walking inside just doesn’t cut it. Except when I walk in place to see everything on Wuhu Island.
Which hasn’t happened in a long time. I feel like I need to go visit that place.
If I owned an enormous warehouse, I would convert it into an indoor beach track. Like it would be an indoor track, but I’d put sand around the track and a wave pool and even crabs scuttling across the floor. It would be awesome.
5 comments
I like walking – I go before work, unless it’s too cold or too rainy. It’s so peaceful at 5 am. We walk dogs at the humane society too. While I am not a huge fan of outside, I walk about 5 days a week. I try to convince my husband that it would be good for him too, but he has only started listening in the last year.
… “dislike being outdoors.” I mean no offense, really I don’t but … is that a thing? Like, do many people dislike being outdoors? I am pretty flabbergasted. I own and live in a house and work in a building and am grateful for the existence of both, because I get the value of shelter, and yes, there are things outdoors I prefer to avoid (I am typing this inside while a lightening storm blows by outside, for example). But I love, love, love being outdoors and would spend huge amounts of my life there were it more practical to do so (I do earn my living in front of a computer, so there are practical challenges).
How common is this state you describe, I wonder. It really never crossed my mind that people might dislike being outdoors, independent of not wanting to be out of the heat/cold/rain and such…
I would go on that beach track — it sounds divine (maybe minus the crabs). I agree — walking is really therapeutic. Bryce and I walk and talk a lot, even though the cats at home aren’t really listening in to our conversations. And a while ago I started walking by myself without any headphones or music or anything — just absorbing the sounds and being present in the walking. It’s good thinking time. This walking sorting out you describe is like advice given in a book I’m reading on anxiety — “First, We Make The Beast Beautiful” by Sarah Wilson — walking is huge in her arsenal of coping mechanisms.
I went on a walk this morning for an hour. I was thinking of blogging about it. I love being outdoors, and even more so being outdoors in the countryside. Though I’m not a hiker, and I don’t like being out in the wind, or heat etc. But to be outside in the fresh air, and breathe it in, and look at beautiful views. That’s bliss.
I like walking, and an indoor track would be fabulous for those cold, blustery, Canadian winter days 😉 or when it’s raining. Dh & I have gotten into walking, on & off… when we lived at our house, there was a high school a few blocks north of us that had a beautiful paved track that was used by the community as well as the school. We’d walk up there, do a few laps & then walk home again, and we managed to do it 3-4 times a week when the weather was good, the last few years we lived there (especially after we both lost our jobs/retired). I miss that. Our present location is a condo building on a major thoroughfare that’s being widened to add a dedicated rapid bus lane. It will all be fabulous when it’s been done, but it’s been three years of construction so far — it’s a mess, and not very conducive to walking, even just down the block to get to the subdivision where we COULD walk on the sidestreets. :p I’m looking forward to getting back into the walking habit once all the roadwork is done!