“We are all just walking each other home.”
It is 5:02 am. Good morning, Tuesday, September 2020. The cool air is beginning to replace the slow, humid, heavy air of summer. It is noticeably darker at 5 in the morning than it was a week ago. I must admit, there is a lovely anticipation of the coming fall months but also a splash of dread as the deep cold of a New England winter is just weeks away. These changing seasons make the world feel hopeful and is also a powerful reminder that change is the natural state of affairs. It can bring with it a beautiful feeling of newness, and also the feeling that nothing is stable. Walking in these distinct seasons has been a glorious lesson. A lesson in change, a lesson in embracing all that is in the moment.
I am reminded each time I pull on my shoes and head out the door how walking every damn day has fundamentally changed my life. There are the obvious shifts in fitness level, increased appetite, but the subtle shifts are perhaps where the magic resides. My sense of time has changed. My understanding of distance has forever been remodeled. Step by singular step, I have walked enough miles to have circumnavigated the earth, roughly 25,000 miles. It has taken 9 years.
The important thing is not the mileage or the time this took. In fact, I am very aware that many other people have reached this milestone. If you are an avid runner, undoubtedly you have already covered these miles. I have friends and colleagues who are The Original Walkers and have been walking for decades. I must admit, I wish I had started decades ago. For me, however, this practice saved my life. It saved my spirit. It saved my way of being. It saved me.
Walking is a slow practice. There is no rushing, no urgency embedded into each step. It isn’t a task to ‘get over’ so I can move onto the next thing on the list. Instead, it is a place to be aligned with the pace of the natural world. I had lost touch with that. My days had become to-do lists and looking at the clock to get to the next thing on time. In fact, when I look to the natural world, the only things that move quickly, with urgency and speed are things that are often destructive: Nor’easters, earthquakes, hurricanes. Life was moving too quickly. Too much untethered energy. Walking was a way back to a pace that was recognizable and a way to truly see what each day was going to bring, instead of simply checking tasks off a list.
This practice has become a way of life. It is subtle, cumulative, spiritual, physical, creative, healing, innovative; a slow, essential practice that has required discipline, commitment, and a splash of wild optimism. Walking can be healing. To go for a walk is perhaps one of the most primal things we can all do. Walking the earth is a way to ground, to find center, to find the heartbeat of a place, a road, a path, a walkway, a sidewalk, a field… This practice is my expression of love.
Join me in walking the walk.
At the end of the day, #ThisMorningWalk is about love. That’s all.
Love.
Love for the day.
Love for the sunrise.
Love for the rain in your face.
Love for the bend in the road.
Love for the many sightings of the snowy owl.
Love for the commitment.
Love for having done it.
Love for me.
Every. Damn. Day.
Libby DeLana is an award-winning executive creative director, designer/art director by trade, who has spent her career in the ad world. This article is based on an excerpt from Libby’s first published book, Do Walk: Navigate Earth, Mind and Body. Step by Step. Click here to get your copy. You can connect with Libby on Instagram @thismorningwalk and @parkhere.