Walking

I once read that Charles Darwin created a sand covered walking path around the edge of his property where he would walk loops several times a day as he worked out his theory of evolution. He called it his "thinking path" and walking was a part of his intellectual process. 

I was so interested to know this because I have similarly felt that walking helps me to think. While I don't have my own path, I do have a little half hour loop in my neighborhood that I like to walk by myself in the morning. No music, no podcasts. Just the wind, the birds, and my thoughts. 

I usually don't set out to think about anything in particular. I just let my mind wander, and invariably I will come to some realization about work, school, or just life in general. There have been numerous times that I have been stuck on a hard reading, a paper I was working on, or my grad school trajectory in general, and then while I'm walking it becomes crystal clear to me!

The bad news is that for the past couple months I was in a walking boot for a stress fracture in my foot, which made walking cumbersome. When I asked the doctor if I could still go for walks in the boot, he looked at me sternly, and said, "That's not really the point of this." So needless to say, my walking was put on hold. 

For the past few weeks I have graduated to a carbon fiber plate in my shoe, which I could go for walks in, but it made my foot ache and my shoe squeak annoyingly.

However, I am now fully cleared for normal activity: no boot, no insert. And, I am so glad to be able to go for my morning walks again! I had missed them so much! Walking is such a simple thing, and even just having it hindered for a short time made me realize what a delightful gift it is to be able to walk freely.